Bingling Temple Upper Gorge Grottoes
炳灵寺 上峡 石窟 永靖 · Upper Gorge Bingling Temple · Bingling Shangxia
Sixteen Kingdoms to Early Tang·Western Qin, Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang·🇨🇳 Gansu, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Yongjing County, Jishi Mountain Dasigou upper gorge 8 km upstream of main Bingling caves, China
About
About Bingling Temple Upper Gorge Grottoes
Upper Dasigou gorge 8 km upstream (northwest) of the Reservoir-edge Bingling Temple classic caves (420–1700 CE, 27-m Maitreya giant), with 14 grottoes on 20-m west cliff headwall preserving the earliest stratum: Western Qin (c.420 CE) Cave 169's Warring States matrix — actually the original 169 at main site, but upper gorge retains Western Qin–Northern Wei caves with unsilted siltstone murals (earliest dated inscription 420 CE). Upper gorge lacks the Reservoir tourism impact and preserves Western Qin donor procession murals with Sogdian and Indic donor attire, documenting Hexi–Tarim Silk Road donor cosmopolitanism pre-Tang.
Why it mattersUpper Western Qin remnant above LiuJiaxia Reservoir with 420 CE earliest Chinese grotto inscription and Silk Road donor murals.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01420 CE dating accuracy — earliest in China?
- 02Sogdian donor attribution
Theories
- 01Hexi Silk Road Buddhist transmission above Yellow River
- 02Western Qin court merit cave at gorge head
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.420–680 CE (Western Qin to Early Tang)
- Period
- Sixteen Kingdoms to Early Tang
- Culture
- Western Qin, Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang
- Builders
- Bingling ateliers (Western Qin Buddhist masters Juqu lineage)
- Purpose
- Remote gorge merit caves above later Reservoir — Silk Road donor procession gallery
- Rediscovered
- 420 CE inscription earliest; 1947 discovery upper gorge; 1964 reservoir inundation study
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
420 CE
Western Qin Cave earliest dated grotto in China cut
c.530 CE
Northern Wei procession mural peak
1964
Reservoir impoundment to base of main caves
On the ground
Structures & features
35.8350° N · 103.0450° E · 1700 m · 2 mapped features
Upper Gorge — Western Qin Donor Procession Wall (Cave UG-3)
mural wall12×3 m mural with 18 donors in Sogdian caftans and Indic dhotis approaching Buddha, earliest dated 420 CE
35.8360° N · 103.0460° EUpper Gorge — Western Qin 420 CE Inscription Niche (Cave UG-1)
inscriptionSmall niche with rock-cut inscription stone 420 CE Western Qin Jianhong 1 nian
35.8340° N · 103.0440° E