Yungang Grottoes Travel Tips

Yungang Grottoes is listed as the key touring spot in our Shanxi tour. In the eyes of many people, Datong is only a city rich in coal, while actually, Datong is more a famous historic and cultural city. All along its history, the most splendid period is the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) when it is a capital of North Wei dynasty. In the Eastern Jin dynasty, Buddhism was introduced into China, when Yungang Grottoes were built. The history of Yungang Grottoes can be traced back to 460 A.D.,in 1961, it was listed as one of the first key officially protected monuments and sites.
The whole grottes can be divided into three parts: the east part, the middle part and the west part.
Niches in the grottes thickly embeded in the middle of Yungang, The east grottoes is featured by towers, so it is also named as "tower cave"; the middle grottes have two rooms each, a buddha sits in the middle and the whole walls decorated with engravings; the west grottes
is distinctive for middle and small sized niches.
The grottes nesled mountains, expanding 1 km from east to west, grottes of all size amounting to 53, buddhist sculpture reaching a number of 51,000, together with Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, it is renowned as treasury of grotto art.
We tour only the middle grottoes, thanks to the introduction and serial number of each grotto that we have an almost complete view there. So prepare more information and knowledge about buddhism may ensure a more meaningful and unforgettable tour in Yungang Grottoes.

the entrance

sacred Buddha sculpture

Tough it rains heavily, still lots of tourits cannot wait to have a look at those sculptures themselves.

It's a pity that such a grand sculpture hasn't been preserved well.

The sculpture of the seated Buddha is as high as 10 m, and the Buddha stands beside reach 6.2 m, it is the largest grottoes in Yungang Grottoes.

Wood engravings

Multi-coloured sculpture

The second largest sculpture which reaches 16.8 m.