Dazu Rock Carvings

2 min read

Dazu is a county at the southeast corner of Sichuan Basin，271km east of Chengdu，the provincial capital.In the county there are in over 20 sitesseveral ten thousand of rock sculptures carved in Tang and Song Dynasties，those of Song Dynast are especilly large in number，which are generally referred to as Dazu rock carvings.

The carving began in 650，the first year of Yonghui Period of Tang Dy-nasty，went on through the Five Dynasties Period and prospered in North and South Song Dynasties.The rock carvings are mainly clustered in Dazu County，at North Hill，Baoding Mountain，South Hill，Rock Gate Hil，and Shizhuan Mountain，which are the representation of the later and maturegrotto art in China，renowned for their large scale，refined carving，and varied motifs.Altogether there are as many as 75 sites of grottoes with over 50000 statues and inscriptions of more than 100000 Chinese characters，reputed as”with everything found in all Buddhist classics”and with the prefect integraition of humanization of deity and apotheosis of human be-ings in artistic creation.

Dazu rock carvings also differ from the earlier grotoes in bringing to-gether the statuary gems of all the“three religions of China”，namely Bud-dhism，Taoism，and Confucianism The statues on the cliff lace of South Hill，for example，are representative Taoist statues carved during the 11th to the 13th centuries，which are the most exquisite and complete of the time.The Confucian statues on the cliff face of Shizhuan Mountain，focused on Conftucius，are seldom found in other grottoes.In addition，statues combining Buddhism，Taoism，and Confucianismcarved on Shizhuan Mountain，as well as those combining Buddhism and Taoism carved on the cliff face of Rock Gate Hil，are also very hard to find in groftoes elsewhere.

With a great wealth of visual images and writen data，Dazu rock carv-ings reveal from all aspects the vital development of the art style of Chinese groftoes and the folks religious believes from the 9th century to the 13th century.They bear a historical，artistic，scientific，and aesthetic value that none of the earlier groftoes could possibly have.

“Pilgrimage to Mt Emei in Emei City if going up，or to Baoding Moun-tain in Dazu County if going down”，this folk saying proves Dazu as a site of interest since ancient times，especially its North Hill and Baoding Moun-tain which are always crowded with tourists，pilgrims，and preaching monks.Every year on the 19th of the 2nd lunar month（believed to be the birthday of Avalokitesvara），tens of thousands of visitors would rush in to Banding Mountain，the“loly Mountain on paradise land”.