What are the four famous caves in China?

1. Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes (Gansu)

There is an oasis shining in the vast and silent desert: the melting snow of Qilian Mountain irrigates the vibrant Dunhuang. In the southeast of Dunhuang, on the cliff at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, a long plank road connects large and small grottoes. The walls of the grottoes are covered with murals and colored sculptures related to Buddhism, and the solemn and dignified Buddha shadows fly around, solemn and mysterious, which is amazing. Here, it is the largest treasure house of Buddhist art in the world-Mogao Grottoes. The excavation of the Mogao Grottoes began in 366 AD. According to records, there was a monk with excellent virtue who went west with a stick. At this time, he saw a thousand buddhas shining and realized something, so he chiseled the first grotto. From the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Yuan Dynasty, the excavation of grottoes lasted for ten dynasties, 1500 years. Nowadays, the grottoes have long been confused. The Mogao Grottoes have been eroded by wind and sand, and more than 750 caves in ten dynasties have been preserved, with 45,000 square meters of murals and 3,000 colored sculptures, and 5 wooden buildings with eaves in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In addition, 40,000 to 50,000 handwritten documents and various cultural relics, including thousands of silk paintings, prints, embroidery and a large number of calligraphy works, have been found in the cave of Tibetan scriptures. If all the artworks are arranged one by one, it will be a world gallery more than 25 kilometers long. Why are there miracles in this remote desert? In the 2nd century BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions, opening up the "Silk Road" for land transportation to Central Asia and West Asia. For thousands of years, the Bitian Huangsha Silk Road has connected cultural exchanges and friendly exchanges between China and the West. Dunhuang is located at the intersection of the north and south roads of the Silk Road. At that time, it used to be a bustling metropolis with prosperous trade and temples everywhere. Buddhism, which propagandizes ideas with artistic images, was introduced into China from India and merged with China traditional culture, leaving a large number of grotto cultural heritages along the way, among which Dunhuang Grottoes, with Mogao Grottoes as the main body, have the largest scale, the longest duration, the richest content and the best preservation. The colored sculptures in Mogao Grottoes are mostly Buddhist figures and their deeds of practicing nirvana. Because the rocks in Mogao Grottoes are loose and cannot be carved, craftsmen use clay sculptures. Clay sculptures before the Tang Dynasty are rarely preserved in other places, so a large number of colored sculptures in Mogao Grottoes are even more precious and rare. Among the Dunhuang grottoes, frescoes are the most abundant and rich in content, and sculpture painting is the most extensive theme, that is, all kinds of buddhas, bodhisattvas, kings and their statements are equal; Buddhist story painting is a cartoon adapted from various stories in Buddhist scriptures; Classic painting is a large-scale classic painting that rose in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which comprehensively expresses all the contents of a classic and promotes the imaginary paradise. Buddhist historical paintings show the theme of combining Buddhist legends and stories with Indian, Central Asian and China historical figures; The portrait of the benefactor, that is, the portrait of the hero who made the hole, is a portrait history. In addition, there are traditional national myths and various decorative patterns. From the murals, we can see all kinds of social activities of all ethnic groups and classes, such as emperor trips, farming, fishing and hunting, smelting iron and making wine, weddings and funerals, business trips, envoys meeting, playing the piano, singing and dancing-there are many things in the world. Western scholars call Dunhuang murals "the library on the wall". Scholars have explored the complicated historical, economic and cultural exchanges between northwest China and countries in Central and South Asia from this historical database, which lasted for more than 1000 years. As a treasure house of art, the Mogao Grottoes is a beautiful landscape, where artistic fashions of different eras gather. Dunhuang Tang Dynasty art represents the worst era of Buddhist art in China. Foreign art and China's national art are in perfect harmony. Dunhuang Tang art is unprecedentedly rich and colorful, with huge Buddha statues as high as tens of meters. A small bodhisattva with dexterity and exquisiteness of only ten centimeters; Great changes with grand scenes and dense characters; One figure painting with vivid image and distinct personality is impressive. Tian Fei, known as The god of the sweet sound in Buddhism, is a beautiful bodhisattva, who can play music, is good at flying and exudes strange fragrance. Flying in the Tang Dynasty is more colorful and lifelike. She is neither like a winged Greek angel nor like an ancient Indian goddess walking on clouds. China artists use long streamers to make their elegant and light female bodies fly all over the sky. Flying is a gorgeous image of national art. When Dunhuang is mentioned, people will think of magical flying. In ancient times, the Mogao Grottoes was a mysterious field, and people entrusted their spirits and feelings. Until the yuan dynasty, incense was constantly burning here. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been gradually ignored and little known. /kloc-One day in 0/900, Taoist Wang, who was in charge of guarding the Mogao Grottoes, came across the Tibetan Sutra Cave while cleaning the grottoes. This accident became a major discovery of world archaeology in the 20th century. The news spread like wildfire, and some explorers active in Central Asia got wind of it. Groups of sculptures, murals and tens of thousands of documents were stolen overseas. In Tokyo, London, Paris and Moscow, there are scriptures in the Tibetan Cave and Dunhuang cultural relics, so a "Dunhuang Studies" consisting of Dunhuang Grottoes, manuscripts in the Tibetan Cave and the history of the Silk Road has been formed in the world. Since the 1940s, China has established the academic research and protection institutions of the Mogao Grottoes. In the 1960s, the grottoes were fully reinforced; Since 1980s, the Mogao Grottoes have entered a period of modern scientific protection. In recent years, the international "Dunhuang fever" is in full swing. This ancient treasure house constantly inspires people's imagination and exploration. The charm of the Mogao Grottoes lasted for thousands of years.

2. Yungang Grottoes in Datong (Shanxi)

Yungang Grottoes (national key cultural relics protection unit) is one of the three largest grottoes in China, and it is also a world-renowned art treasure house. Yungang Grottoes are located at the foot of Wuzhou Mountain, which is 16 km west of Datong City. Dig by the mountain, stretching from east to west 1 km. Because the grottoes were built in the foothills of Wuzhou, their highest name was Yungang, hence the name Yungang Grottoes. There are 53 existing caves and 5 1000 stone carvings. The highest Buddha statue is 17 meters, and the smallest is only a few centimeters. The south cliff of Wuzhou Mountain stretches for one kilometer from east to west. The niches in Yungang Grottoes are as dense as honeycombs, and large, medium and small caves are densely embedded in Yungang. Stone Buddha, stone statue, stone horse, stone carving and relief are gathered here, which is one of the largest stone carving groups in China. Yungang Grottoes have a history of 1500 years. It was founded in 453 AD (the second year of Xing 'an in Northern Wei Dynasty) and was excavated by Yao Tan, a monk at that time. Most of them were completed in 495 AD, which lasted more than 40 years. Together with the rest of the caves, it took nearly 50 years. More than 40,000 people participated in the excavation, and even Buddhists in the Lion Country (Sri Lanka) participated in this world-famous artistic creation. Yungang Grottoes are divided into East Zone, Central Zone and West Zone. The first and second caves are located at the eastern end of the cave group, which is seriously weathered. Only the story relief at the lower part of the east wall of the first cave is still well preserved. The third cave is the largest cave in Yungang, with a 25-meter-high cliff in front and 12 rectangular caves drilled in the middle and upper part. It is divided into front room and back room, and the back room has a Buddha and two Bodhisattvas. These statues have a natural posture, smooth clothes and full faces. They are clothes and statues in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and they are sculptures after the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the fourth hole, there are four Qing wooden pavilions in front of the hole, and the top is decorated with colored glass, which is quite gorgeous. There is a Buddha sitting in the middle of the cave, which is as high as 17 meters. It is the largest statue in Yungang Grottoes. This Buddha statue can stand on one knee 120 people and stand on one foot 12 people. Around the big Buddha, around the small Buddha, set off each other, very spectacular. Among dozens of caves in Yungang, the fifth cave of Tan Yao is the earliest and the most magnificent. Five holes are adjacent to six holes, forming a group of double holes. In front of the cave, there are five four-story wooden pavilions with glazed tiles built in the eighth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (165 1), which are quite spectacular. This cave is the essence of Yungang art, with large scale, exquisite carving and exquisite craftsmanship. The height of the sitting Buddha in the center of the fifth cave is 17 meters, which is the highest from the Buddha, and its appearance was reshaped by clay sculpture in the Tang Dynasty. The wall is full of carved shrines. On both sides of the archway, two Buddha statues sit under the bodhi tree, with relief at the top and beautiful lines. In the center of the sixth cave are two towers with a height of 15 meters, which are connected to the top of the cave. There are carved statues on all sides of each floor, and statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva, Lohan and Tian Fei are carved on the surrounding walls. There are 33 statues and various mounts carved on the top of the cave. On the wall and around the tower, the story of Sakyamuni from birth to becoming a Buddha is carved. The seventh hole has three layers of wooden eaves in front of it. Caves are divided into front and back chambers. On the upper floor of the main wall of the back room, there is a bodhisattva sitting on a Leo. The east, west and south walls are covered with carved statues of the shrine, which are beautiful and realistic. The relief on the top of the cave is flying in the sky, lively and vivid, each with lotus as the center, circling and dancing, and the dance is light and moving, which is very infectious. The eighth cave is similar to the seventh cave. On the west side, there are carved pigeon Luotian with five heads and six arms riding peacocks, and on the east side, there are carved cow's head Luotian with three heads and eight arms riding cattle, which is extremely rare in Yungang Cave. Cave 9 has a front room and a back room. The two pillars of the arch in the front room are octagonal, and the walls of the room are carved with shrines, musicians and maiko. The statue is lifelike and graceful, with unique shape, smooth clothes and strong sense of movement. Cave 10, the front room is flying, with beautiful posture and coordinated proportion. There are exquisite stone carvings and Buddha statues on the top of the open windows in the top ten caves, which are the places that tourists pay more attention to. 1 1 caves, with a square tower carved in the center, extending to the top of the cave and surrounded by Buddha statues. The Buddha statue on the front is well preserved, and other walls are carved statues of Buddhist niches. In the twelve caves, a geisha is carved on the upper part of the main wall. She holds strings, pipes and percussion instruments with different expressions and vivid images. The classical musical instruments in their hands, such as Paixiao and Ziou, are very precious and are important historical materials for studying the music history of China. In Cave 13, Maitreya sits in the middle, with a height of12m. There is a statue of Lux with a supporting wall carved between the right wall and the leg, which is the only example in Yungang Grottoes. There is a seven-Buddha statue on the upper part of the south wall arch, which is elegant in shape and beautifully carved, and very attractive. Cave 14 is severely weathered, and there are still some statues and square Buddha columns on the east side of the upper part of the western wall. There are more than 10,000 small Buddha statues in Cave 15, which is called the Ten Thousand Buddha Cave. Sixteen caves excavated at the same time with these three caves, together with the following caves, are called "Five Great Caves in Tan Yao". Cave-shaped oval, with a giant Buddha standing on a lotus column in the middle, and thousands of Buddha statues and shrines carved on the surrounding walls. At the turn of the century, in Cave 17, Maitreya leans against Sumeru. There are niches on the east and west walls, and the objects are sitting statues. Eighteen holes, with a statue of Sakyamuni in the middle, which is15m high, with bare right wall and cassock, is beautifully depicted, vivid and touching. Cave 19, with a sitting statue of Sakyamuni in the middle and a height of16.7m, is the second largest Buddha statue in Yungang Grottoes. Cave 20 is located in the west corner of the central part of Yungang Grottoes. The vertical wall in front of the cave collapsed before the Liao Dynasty, and the statue was made in the open air. The main statue is a sitting statue of Sakyamuni, with a height of 13.7 meters. Above the chest, it is well preserved because of its hard stone, shoulder width, right cassock, round face, thin lips and high nose, and solemn expression. The large flame pattern of backlight and the relief colors such as sitting Buddha and flying are very rich, which set off the main Buddha more forcefully and forcefully, and are representative works in Yungang Grottoes. Yungang Grottoes are magnificent in spirit, solemn in appearance, beautifully carved and prominent in theme. Various religious figures in the whole grotto sculpture have different expressions. In terms of carving techniques, it inherits and develops the fine tradition of Qin and Han art in China, absorbs the beneficial elements of Gandhara art, and creates Yungang's unique artistic style, which is extremely precious and valuable information for the study of sculpture, architecture, music and religion.

3. Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang (Henan)

Longmen Grottoes is one of the three largest grottoes in China, located at12km south of Luoyang. There is a Yishui River with Xiangshan Mountain and Longmen Mountain on both sides. During the more than 400 years from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the late Tang Dynasty, ancient craftsmen dug holes in these two mountains to build temples, making them a world-famous treasure house of stone carving art. Longmen Grottoes are 1 km long from north to south, with more than 97,000 Buddha statues and more than 300 grottoes 1. More than 3600 inscriptions and inscriptions. Fengxian Temple is the largest cave in Longmen Grottoes, and each cave is 30 meters long. The outstanding feature of Fengxian Temple lies in the huge statue of Rushna in the middle, which is really an exquisite artistic masterpiece. The total height of Lushena Buddha statue is 17. 14m, the head height is 4m, and the ear length is1.9m. According to Buddhist scriptures, Lushena means to shine all the time. This Buddha statue, with rich and beautiful eyes, slightly upturned corners of the mouth, smiling face and slightly lowered head, looks like a wise and kind middle-aged woman at first glance, which makes people respect and fear. Some people say that when making this Buddha statue, noble sentiment, rich feelings, open mind and elegant appearance are perfectly combined, so she has great artistic charm. The sculpture group of Fengxian Temple is a perfect artistic whole. Next to the Buddha statue in Lushena, there are statues of his disciples Ananda, Ye Jia, threatened Bodhisattva, Lux and Heavenly King. These statues, some kind and some pious, look at the statues of Tianwang and Lux on the side, but they are ferocious and threatening, making the main image more prominent. Another famous cave in Longmen Grottoes is Binyang Cave. It took 24 years before and after the cave was built, which was the longest time to dig. There is 1 1 Buddha in the cave. Sakyamuni, the Lord, is a masterpiece of stone carving art in the mid-Northern Wei Dynasty. There are two large reliefs in the cave, the Buddha statue of the emperor and the Buddha statue of the empress dowager. The pictures are centered on Emperor Wei Xiaowen and the Empress Dowager of Civilization, and form a Buddhist honor guard. Exquisite composition, meticulous carving and high artistic value. This is a painting reflecting the life of the emperor at that time. Eco was smuggled to the United States by American profiteers in collusion with China before liberation, and now it is collected in Nelson Art Museum and new york Art Museum in Kansas City respectively. Guyangdong is also famous. The inscriptions on the statue are very rich, and most of them are concentrated here. Kang Youwei, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, praised the beauty of calligraphy here as: vigorous and vigorous, vigorous brushwork, bold and bold stippling, fantastic interest, flying charm, profound bone technique, natural structure and rich flesh and blood. There is also a prescription cave with 140 prescriptions engraved in it, which reflects the achievements of ancient medicine in China. Carving some prescriptions on stone tablets or caves, which are also found in other places, is an important way to spread ancient medical achievements to future generations.

4. Maijishan Grottoes in Tianshui (Gansu)

Maijishan Grottoes is located in Maijishan Scenic Area, which, together with the above three grottoes, is called the Four Grottoes in China, 45 kilometers away from Tianshui City. Maijishan Scenic Area is located in the eastern part of the northern branch of the West Qinling Mountains, with a total area of 2 15 square kilometers, including Maijishan, Xianrenya, Shimen, Quxi and Jieting ancient town. Among them, Maijishan Grottoes are the most famous. The scenery around Maiji Mountain is beautiful, and the mountain is covered with cypress, pine and wild flowers. Climbing to the top of the mountain, you can see lush green hills around you. I can only see Qian Shan with mountains and valleys, pines like the sea, and misty clouds. The distant scenery is intertwined, forming a beautiful picture scroll, known as the "wheat accumulation and misty rain" at the head of the eight scenic spots in Tianshui. Among the famous grottoes in China, Mackey is the best natural scenery. Maijishan Grottoes was founded in 384 AD. After more than ten dynasties' continuous excavation and reconstruction, it has become one of the famous large grottoes in China and a world-famous art treasure house. There are 194 existing caves, including more than 7,200 clay sculptures from the 4th century to19th century, and murals 1300 square meters. A remarkable feature of Maijishan Grottoes is that the caves are located in extremely thrilling positions, most of which are dug on cliffs, and the caves are accessible by aerial plank roads erected on the cliffs. Visitors can't help but be thrilling when climbing these winding aerial plank roads. The ancients once praised these projects: "Between the cliffs, there are thousands of caves carved into buddhas. Broken by manpower, doubt is magical. " There are also proverbs circulating nearby, such as "South Mountain cuts firewood and builds Mackey Cliff" and "There are thousands of sticks of firewood in front of Mackey Cliff". It can be seen that the construction of caves and plank roads at that time was arduous and grand. The art of Maijishan Grottoes is famous at home and abroad for its exquisite clay sculptures. Historian Fan Wenlan once praised Maijishan as a "big exhibition hall for displaying statues". If Dunhuang is a big mural museum, Maijishan is a big sculpture museum. The statues here are as big as 15 meters and as small as 20 centimeters, which embodies the characteristics of statues in various eras for more than 1000 years and systematically reflects the development and evolution of clay sculpture art in China. Clay sculptures here can be roughly divided into four categories: high relief sculptures protruding from the wall, circular sculptures completely leaving the wall, molded shadow sculptures and wall sculptures close to the wall. Among them, thousands of life-size circular sculptures are very interesting in life and are regarded as treasures. Maijishan statue has two obvious characteristics: strong national consciousness and secularization trend. In addition to the early works, judging from the statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty, almost all the Buddha statues bow down and have amiable faces. Although they are gods in the sky, they are like secular people and become the embodiment of people's good wishes. Judging from the figures and costumes of the statue, it is gradually getting rid of the influence of foreign art and embodies the characteristics of the Han nationality. Many caves in McKee have been built into unique "cliff pavilions". Seven buddha Pavilion, located at15m above the head of the East Cliff Clay Sculpture Buddha, is a typical Chinese cliff pavilion building. It was built on a cliff more than 50 meters above the ground and was excavated in the middle of the 6th century. Although Maijishan Grottoes are mainly clay sculptures, there are also a certain number of stone carvings and murals. Maijishan Grottoes are listed as national key cultural relics protection units, and the1.300m aerial plank road has been newly built and repaired, enabling tourists to board all grottoes smoothly.