Why: Yungang Grottoes is the first Buddhist art in China.

Yungang Grottoes are located at the southern foot of Wuzhou Mountain, which is 16 km west of Datong City, Shanxi Province, in northern China. Excavation along the mountain, east-west strike 1 km. There are 53 main caves with more than 56,5438+0,000 statues, which is one of the caves in China. Construction started in the first year of peace in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and most of it was completed before Taihe moved its capital to Luoyang in the 18th year. The highest Buddha statue is 17 meters, and the smallest is only a few centimeters.

Cave Yungangdi 17 is the Maitreya Buddha statue (Source: Phoenix. China Buddhist Photography: Yuan Yin)

Yungang Grottoes are magnificent and rich in content. It is the crown of stone carving art in China in the 5th century A.D., and is known as the treasure house of ancient carving art in China. According to the excavation time, it can be divided into three periods: early, middle and late, and the grotto sculpture styles in different periods also have their own characteristics. The early "Tan Yaodong" was magnificent and had a rich and simple western flavor. In the middle period, the grottoes were famous for their exquisite carvings and ornate decorations, showing the complex and magnificent artistic style of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Although the scale of the grottoes in the later period is small, the figures are slender and handsome, and the proportion is moderate. It is a model of grottoes art in northern China and the origin of "skinny and picturesque". In addition, the music, dance and acrobatic sculptures left in the grottoes also reflected the popularity of Buddhist thought at that time and the social life of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Buddha statue in Yungangdi 16 Cave (Source: Phoenix. China Buddhist Photography: Yuan Yin)

Yungang Grottoes vividly recorded the historical track of the development of Indian and Central Asian Buddhist art to China Buddhist art, and reflected the gradual secularization and nationalization of Buddhist statues in China. A variety of Buddhist sculpture styles have achieved unprecedented integration in Yungang Grottoes, and the resulting "Yungang Model" has become a turning point in the development of Buddhist art in China. The statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes were influenced by Yungang Grottoes to varying degrees.

Towers in Yungang Grottoes (Source: Phoenix Net China Buddhist Photography: Yuan Yin)

Yungang Grottoes are the beginning of the "China-ization" of Grottoes. The Chinese palace architectural style carvings in Yungang Grottoes in the middle period and the Chinese-style Buddhist niches developed on this basis have been widely used in the construction of later grottoes. The layout and decoration of the grottoes in Yungang's later period showed a strong architectural and decorative style in China, which reflected the deepening of "China" of Buddhist art.

Yungang Music Cave Statue (Source: Phoenix. China Buddhist Photography: Yuan Yin)

Looking at 53 caves, among the stone carvings stretching for one kilometer, the statues are as big as ten meters and as small as a few centimeters, and there are huge stones and stone carvings everywhere, which is a grand view. Their shapes are charming. Some sit in the middle, lifelike, or drum or bell, or holding piccolo or singing and dancing, or holding pipa, facing tourists. These Buddha statues flying in the sky support people's faces, bodies and clothes, leaving behind the wisdom and hardships of ancient working people. These Buddha statues and musicians' statues also clearly show Persian colors. This is a historical testimony of the friendly exchanges between the people of ancient China and other countries. On the basis of traditional sculpture art in China, Yungang Grottoes absorbed and integrated the essence of Indian Gandhara art and Persian art, which is the crystallization of creative labor.

Seven Bodhisattvas in Yungang (Source: Phoenix. China Buddhist Photography: Yuan Yin)

Yungang Grottoes were listed in the World Cultural Heritage List on 200 1. The World Heritage Committee appraised Yungang Grottoes, which represented the excellent Buddhist grottoes art in China from the 5th to 6th centuries. Among them, the Tan Yao Grottoes with strict and unified layout is the classic masterpiece of China's Buddhist art at its first peak.