🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Beishan Grottoes Dazu
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 · Temple complex
Yungang West Cave 20
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
Maijishan Western Cliff Grottoes
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
Bingling Temple Upper Gorge Grottoes
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 · Temple complex
Tianlongshan North Manshan Grottoes
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
Bingling Temple South Cave 169
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
Tianlongshan East Cave Taiyuan
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
Mati Temple West Thousand Buddha Cliff
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 · Temple complex
Mati Temple South Grotto
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.