Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China
written by breakphreak
on January 2nd, 2009
, 2 comments
(1 vote)
53 grottoes (read: caves) with thousands statues carry a history of 1500 years back in time. The historical records state that more then 40000 people contributed to the project that took 50 years to complete (all happened during the Northern Wei Dynasty, guided by a monk, named Tan Yao).
The grottoes reflect not only the local style but also some Greek and Indian influence. Comparing to the other grottoes sites in China (more stories will follow), for me –
Those still preserved a certain kind of a mystic ancient atmosphere. No special need for a guide: the caves tell their own imaginary story about how was the life 1500 years ago.
Take a bus from Datong, pass the mine workers’ village and walk 3 minutes to the grottoes. Looking on the pictures, don’t forget that those times it all was painted in
colors. :)
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