Beijing Life III
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2004
1
119
157
Trip End
Jul 20, 2012
Beijing,
China
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Yungang Shiku (Cloud Ridge Caves) were carved in sandstone from about AD 460 to 470. They are a product of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The caves consist of over 53 grottoes and 50,000 statues that include Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and flying Apsaras. They are cut into the sandstone cliffs of Wuzhou Shan, and stretch for 1km east to west. The grottoes are found 16 km west of the city of Datong, and located next to the pass leading to Inner Mongolia. This is the northern most outpost of the Silk Road. Wei rulers came to this site, which is basically desert, to pray for rain
Cultural Revolution Themed Restaurant
. The Yungang Shiku contain some of the oldest stone sculptures in China. The earliest grottoes to be carved are 16,17,18,19, and 20. They were carved by 40,000 workmen over a hundred-year period who came from many places outside of China, such as India and Central Asia. The foreign influence can be seen in the carvings, which depict Persian lions, Byzantine weapons, Greek tridents, Greek acanthus leaves, men with large beards, and the Indian Hindu Gods Vishnu and Shiva. These caves were carved around 460 AD and the Buddhas have the faces of the Northern Wei Dynasty Emperors. The most spectacular of this group is cave 20. It contains a 45 foot seated Buddha with a large standing Bodhisattva. The face of the Buddha is that of the Wei Emperor Wencheng. The caves are reached by stairs and scaffolding.After the caves, we got adventerous and walked through some of the nearby villages. Villagers here make their living by working in the nearby coalmines. Our goal was to visit a beacon tower (there were many of them scattered about).We crossed a coal mine, to get were we needed to go and were thinking about how American or Oz officials would react upon seeing strangers walking around their coal mines. Nobody bothered. We had a great time and later rewarded ourselves with yummy Shanxi food.
