Yungang
Grottoes
 Not
to be missed are the Yungang Grottoes located
at the southern foot of Wuzhou Mountain
fifteen kilometers west of Datong. The grottoes
stretch for a whole kilometer from east
to west. There are 53 grottoes and 1,100
niches, with about 51, 000 statues.
Legend says that in A.D. 446
during the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor
Tai Wu suddenly renounced Buddhism and ordered
that it be eradicated: monks and nuns were
forced to resume secular life, and Buddhist
monasteries and pagodas were burned down.
Soon after he had launched this first "campaign
to eradicate Buddhism" in Chinese history,
Emperor Tai Wu fell ill and died. His grandson,
Emperor Wen Cheng, took his sudden death
as a sign of retribution. Wen Cheng therefore
did his best to reinstitution Buddhism.
Monk Yun Yao, who was then in charge of
Buddhist affairs in China, was entrusted
with the project of building grottoes at
the foot of Wu Zhou Mountain. He conscripted
a labor force of 10,000 men, and five grottoes
were hewn in five years to commemorate the
five emperors who had reigned since the
founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The
project was discontinued when Emperor Xiao
Wen moved the capital from Datong to Lupyang.
It is believed that the Longmen Grottoes
in Luoyang were a continuation of the Yungang
Grottoes project.
On entering the grottoes, the
visitor sees an astonishing number of Buddhist
statues and decorative frescos. One seventeen-meter
Buddha with down-cast eyes seems to gaze
with penetrating insight into the human
heart as it wavers between good and evil.
One series of carvings depicts scenes from
the life of Sakyamuni from birth until his
attainment of nirvana. Many of the carvings
combine traditional Chinese art forms with
foreign influences to create a unique style
that occupies an important position in the
history of Chinese art.
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