Known as the Yungang Grottoes this is a UNESCO world Heritage site. These statues and pictures are the fusion of Buddhist religious art from south and central Asia. Datong is a city in Shanxi Province of Northern China, which is about a few hundered kilometers from Beijing. This ancient city has seen various kings go by and still preserves the ancient architecture and remains of the kingdoms of China. In the Yungang Grottoes or Cloud Ridge caves are some of the Shallow caves about 16 kms from Datong which contain more than 50,000 carved pictures and ancient statues of Buddha along with bodhisattavas. These are about 4 cms to 7 meter tall relics.
Most of them are more than one thousand years old. Within the city are also some of the most historical monuments like the nine dragon wall.
Datong is the largest city in China. It contains the cave monasteries. Known as the Yungang Grottoes this is a UNESCO world Heritage site. These statues and pictures are the fusion of Buddhist religious art from south and central Asia. with Chinese cultural traditions starting in the 5th century. After the decline of the Jin Dynasty the Northern Wei took over the city of Datong as their capital which was earlier known as Pingcheng. They started following Buddhism and they are attributed for this construction work.
Though later after the decline of Northern Wei the monasteries had lost his royal patronage, but still continued to actively build up. In fact, the grottoes Yungan served to strengthen the righteous Dharma in China until the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the last renovations were undertaken in the 17-18 century. The earliest caves date back 460-465 years, they are the five largest Buddha statues in Yungane. Standing Buddha statue being one of the oldest statues in the world.
Statue of a seated Gautama, his raised hand (Abhaya Mudra) means openness and fearlessness.
