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Yungang Grottoes (5th century onward)

The Yungang Grottoes (Y�ngang Sh�ku, Cloud Ridge Caves) lie in the northern part of Shanxi province about ten miles (16 km) west of the industrial city of Datong. The approximately fifty caves carved in the sandstone cliffs of the Wuzhou mountain range (Wuzhoushan) stretch for about a kilometer along the Wuzhou River.

The non-Chinese Tuoba Turks, known to history as the Northern Wei, unified northern China and established their capital at Pingcheng (modern-day Datong) in the late 4th century. Their early rulers accepted the Buddhist religious beliefs of the local population, perhaps in part for religious reasons, but also for political and economic purposes. Buddhist monks served as political advisors and even merged the identity of the political and religious worlds by identifying the emperor with the Tathagata Buddha. The religion thus assisted the Tuoba in the control of their new lands. The new r�gime subsequently supported the construction of Buddhist buildings and shrines in their area of control. Yet there was also opposition to the Buddhist state. The Emperor Taiwu (Taiwudi, 424-452 AD), influenced by Confucian and Daoist opponents of Buddhism, accused its priests of conspiring against the political order and began a period of intense persecution in the mid-5th century (446-452 AD). Taiwu�s �campaign to eradicate Buddhism� destroyed numerous temples and images as well as a great quantity of writings; he also forced many monks to abandon their positions and return to secular life.

The Emperor Wencheng, Taiwu�s grandson and successor, reversed this policy in 452, the year of Taiwu�s death, and immediately began to lavish significant gifts on the Buddhist community as propitiation for the earlier persecution and destruction of property. This was to herald the beginning of the carved grottoes at Yungang as well as the construction of other Buddhist structures in and around the capital. Wencheng�s successors (Xianwen, 466-471, and Xiaowen, 471-499) continued this support of Buddhism, especially at the grottoes of Yungang. Eventually, however, the Buddhist monastic community began to wield an even more powerful influence�perhaps too powerful--in the total society. In 494 Xiaowen, perhaps influenced by the Buddhist power, but primarily to increase his identity as ruler of northern China, moved his capital to the historic former Chinese capital at Datong.

The most significant work on the grottoes was completed between 460 and the early 490s. The move of the Northern Wei capital to Datong in 494 ended the intense period of construction and carving. There was some restoration during the Sui and Tang dynasties, and important repairs were carried out in the 11th and 12th centuries under the Liang Dynasty and later under the Qin. Restorations continue today. Yet much of its history lies shrouded in mystery. Unlike the later Longmen Grottoes, the cave sites have remarkably few inscriptions.

The Yungang Grottoes were not the first of China�s cave carvings, though they were China�s first major stone carved grottoes. There were earlier caves, notably some of the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang, whose terra cotta statues and exuberant paintings influenced Yungang. Actually some of the Dunhuang craftsmen moved to Pingcheng and became an integral part of the new project. According to an early history of the Wei, five Indian monks, accomplished sculptors, went to Pengcheng in 455, shortly before beginning of the construction of the caves. The chief monk, Tan Yao, the instigator of the project, was himself from western Gansu province, where the Mogao Grottoes were located.

The carving of the grottoes initially was a partnership between the imperial sponsors and the Buddhist community. After the death of persecuting Emperor Taiwu in 452 the overseer of the monks in the region, Tan Yao, secured the approval of the new r�gime to carving and decorate the Wuzhou cliffs into a series of Buddhist cave-shrines. Originally there were to be five caves, �in each of which a Buddhist image should be carved� (these eventually were to become Caves 16-20). Although precise identification of each of the statues is difficult, the five major figures do also honor the line of the first five emperors, albeit in Buddha forms. With imperial support and patronage, eventually the project assumed a far greater scope: it became a testament both to the grandeur and the austerity of the political state. Tens of thousand worked at the task for over thirty years. The Wei rulers excavated and carved twenty large caves and numerous smaller ones before moving their capital to Datong, where they embarked on an even greater project of stone carving (in more substantial limestone), and in a more intensely Chinese style, in the Longmen Grottoes.

Historically the caves have been divided into three major groups: The east section (caves 1-4), have some interest, but are relatively minor compared to the others; the center section (caves 5-13), with a number of paired caves mostly carved between 462 and 495; and the west section (caves 14-53), constructed during a variety of earlier and later periods, but containing the significant imperial caves (16-20).

The first caves were carved on the Wuzhou south-facing cliff beginning in the mid-5th century (after 453 or 460) and were built under the supervision of Tan Yao. Constructed under imperial patronage, these early caves reflect an austere monumentality that is almost pharaonic in concept. Later caves and carvings came under the patronage of court officials and finally by other classes. Many of the latter reflect a more florid and joyous style. The grottoes were to become a significant worship center.

The earliest caves have discernable �western� features. The carvings and the pillar architecture of the cave fa�ades are similar to the Indian chaityas, and some of the colossal Buddha statues follow the northern India Gandh�ran style. Several of the statues of enormous size (Caves 5, 16-19) appear even to have been influenced by the now destroyed Bamiyan statues of Afghanistan. But one can also discern Greco-Roman influence in the stone porticos that front a number of the caves and in some of the decorative motifs and minor figures. There are Iranian and Byzantine and other influences. But the heavy decoration, from the images of dragons and phoenixes and the Chinese-style roofs and brackets as well as a unique style in the nimbuses or aureoles of the Buddhist carvings, show the distinctive Chinese character.

The grottoes are impressive in every way, although it is impossible to show this on this site, since photography inside the caves is prohibited. It is estimated that there are over 50,000 carved statues in the entire complex. And there is a great variety within the carvings. There are giant standing and seated Buddhas both inside the caves and in the open air. The caves themselves range in size from 70 feet (21 m) deep to only a few feet. There are small caves with their surfaces richly painted and carved on every surface. Additionally there are numerous intricate bas-relief wall carvings and richly impressive detailed painting of the carvings, doorjambs, statues and other decorative features.

A number of the caves are periodically closed to the public, and perimeter fencing keeps visitors from entering some of the more significant structures. Restoration work continues today. Natural erosions, looters (especially in the early 20th century) and vandals, as well as some anti-Buddhist attacks during the Cultural Revolution, have all taken their toll, as have some of the restorations that involved the replastering of statuary (the original base was a friable, soft and easily eroded sandstone) and the sometimes unfortunate repainting of statues, walls and other decoration. Much additional destruction resulted from the heavy truck traffic from the near-by large coal mining operations, as well as from the sooty discharge of the industrial sector of Datong. Fortunately, much of the traffic has recently been rerouted to preserve this singularly important element of the priceless heritage of China�s historic civilization. The Yungang Grottoes truly are a treasure house of world art.

Text by Robert D. Fiala, Concordia University, Nebraska

Bibliography:

All images copyright 1987, 2003 by Professor Robert D. Fiala of Concordia University, Nebraska, USA

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