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CategoriesTemple complexes
Sacred precincts, sanctuaries and the architecture of ritual.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties (Northern Wei late) · Tuoba Wei (Xianbei) Buddhist with Han artisan school
UNESCO Yungang western 15-cave zone 494–525 with central-pillar and collapsed colossus.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang (Northern Liang 420 peak) · Hexi Corridor mixed Han–Tibetan Buddhist (Juqu Mengxun lineage)
Mati Si southern 12-cave cliff 420 CE Thousand-Buddha with hoof-print legend and hanging plankway.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Tang to Southern Song · Late Tang to Song Sichuan Buddhist (Wei Junjing to Zhao Zhifeng line)
UNESCO Beishan's 290-niche scholar's cliff 2 km north of Dazu with Song filial piety reliefs.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Early Medieval Central Asian (Tocharian B) · Tocharian Buddhist (Kucha Kingdom) with Gandhara influence
Kucha Tocharian western 42-cave valley 400–700 CE diamond ceilings and lapis blue, German-removal archive.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties to Tang · Northern Qi–Tang northern Shanxi Buddhist
Taiyuan Heavenly Dragon western 8-cave extension 560–750 with 1924 removal and scaffolding holes.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties (Northern Qi imperial) · Northern Qi Imperial Buddhist (Ye capital Gao clan)
Qi royal 9-cave north cluster 550–577 North Cave Buddha with 1909 Freer looting and 3D reunion.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Northern Wei (Northern Dynasties) · Northern Wei royal Buddhist (Toba Wei imperial atelier under Tanyao)
13.7-m open-fronted seated Buddha of Yungang's Five Tanyao west series — most iconic Wei colossus.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms to Song · Later Qin, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song
Sheer west face 80 m with 72 hanging grottoes on plank balconies — Maijishan postcard cliff.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms to Early Tang · Western Qin, Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang
8-km-upstream Western Qin cliff with 420 CE earliest murals above reservoir.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties to Tang (Northern Qi 550–577 peak) · North China Buddhist imperial patronage (Qi and Tang)
Quyang white-marble mountain 12 caves 550–750 CE South Cave Vairocana, quarry-monastery.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Tang (post-An Lushan) · Late Tang Jiedushi patronised Buddhist
North spur 8-cave late Tang group with Tianlong's only caitya pillar and wet-drape naturalism.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang · Western Qin to Tang Buddhist (Bingling synthesis)
South partition of monumental natural Cave 169 with 384 Sui–Tang niches and Tang donor cartouche.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Northern Dynasties (Western Wei to Northern Zhou) · Northern Zhou Buddhist (Yuwen court patronage)
North-face shaded Maitreya pensive niche preserving straw-plastic polychrome.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sui to Tang · Sui-Tang Buddhist (Taiyuan Jinyang school)
Eastern 8-cave Sui peak of Tianlong Mountain above Taiyuan with Amitabha hall.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang · Hexi Buddhist (Xiliang, N Wei, Sui, Tang)
1.2-km-west thousand-niche vertical cliff with 1200 Buddhas and Tang malachite murals.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties to Qing (Western Wei to 19th c.) · Han-Tibetan Buddhist communities of Longxi
Yellow River Tibetan fringe 5-cave scarp Western Wei 540 CE seated Buddha with Tibetan repaint.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan · Hexi Buddhist (Northern Liang, Northern Wei, Sui, Tang, Uyghur, Tibetan, Yuan)
800-m-south Mati grotto cluster with 7-m Shakyamuni and horse-hoof legend slab.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Tang to Song (Late Tang Wei Junjing phase to Southern Song) · Sichuan Buddhist gentry (Dazu artisan guilds)
Dazu UNESCO eastern valley 150 niches Tang–Song 892–1169 with Avalokitesvara transformation.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Gaochang to Yuan 500–1300 CE · Uyghur Buddhist (ancient Uyghur–Tocharian)
Turpan depression Uyghur Buddhist cliff with 77 donor-portrait caves below sea level.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Western Han Early 202–141 BCE · Han dynasty (Changsha Kingdom)
Family cemetery of Marquess of Dai (Li Cang, Prime Minister of Changsha Kingdom, Western Han, 202 BCE–9 CE) with three rectangular shaft tombs (168–145 BCE).
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Six Dynasties to Tang ~300–800 CE · Tocharian Kuchean Buddhist with Gandharan influence
Kucha's 236 lapis-blue Jataka caves - China's earliest Buddhist grottoes on the Silk Road.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Western Jin to Yuan (300 – 1300 CE) · Buddhist Hexi nomad to Tang imperial
Lower cliffs with 420 CE earliest inscribed cave 169 of 169 caves at Liujia Reservoir.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Tang → Yuan → Ming Yongle peak → Qing · Taoist (Zhenwu / Xuanwu school)
Taoist sacred mountain complex on 72 peaks 800–1612 m, 9 palaces, 36 convents and 72 cliff temples built primarily 1412–1424 under Ming Yongle emperor (200,000 artisans) as political legitimation…
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms → Qing 420–1911 · Buddhist (Hexi Silk Road)
Yellow River gorge sanctuary of 183 caves and 694 statues cut into 60 m yellow sandstone cliff above reservoir since 420 CE (Western Qin) to Qing, famous for 27 m Maitreya Buddha (Tang) carved from…
