"There are Dunhuang murals in the north and jianchuan grottoes in the south."
This is the sigh of the famous sociologist Mr. Fei Xiaotong after seeing the Shibaoshan Grottoes.
Where are the Shibaoshan Grottoes? Jianchuan County, Dali.
(Source: Dali Cultural Tourism)
It is an important birthplace of Yunnan's "bronze culture" and "rice farming culture", the "cornucopia of Chinese Bai culture", and jin Yong's runaway rivers and lakes.
There is a little-known attraction hidden there, Shibao Mountain in Jianchuan County.
The "Dunhuang Grottoes" in Yunnan
In the lush and rocky Shibao Mountain, there are 17 grottoes that are wonderful enough to shock the world.
This is the Shizhongshan Grottoes, which are praised by Chinese and foreign historians as "Dunhuang in the South".
(Source: Cultural Tourism Yunnan)
Jin Yong, a master of martial arts novels, visited the Shibaoshan Grottoes and gladly offered four big characters of "Southern Heaven Treasure" with a pen. The famous writer Feng Jicai, after inspecting the Shibaoshan Grottoes, also wrote an inscription that reads, "The first choice of gods and Buddhas, the heavenly mountain on earth."
In 1961, the Shizhongshan Grottoes, together with the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, datong Yungang Grottoes, Luoyang Longmen Grottoes and Dazu Grottoes, were listed as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in China.
(Source: Sandalwood House)
17 caves, more than 200 torso statues of stone carvings
The Shizhongshan Grottoes include the Grottoes of Shizhongsi District (8 caves), the Grottoes of Shiziguan District (3 caves), and the Grottoes of Shadeng District (6 caves), with a total of 17 caves and more than 200 statues, all excavated according to the mountain, magnificent and magnificent.
Grotto One
Grotto No. 1 is a "Statue of King Yimu of Nanzhao", which truly records the political life of the court of the Nanzhao Kingdom in the eighth and ninth centuries.
(Source: Dali Radio and Television Station)
Grotto 2
Grotto No. 2 is the fifth generation of Nanzhao king "Ge Luo Feng out of the tour map", the whole cave in a limited space content of 16 different characters, is the grotto carving in the historical relics value and carving art value of the highest cave.
Grotto Five
Cave Five's "Statue of Vimalaya Asks questions" shows the classic scene in the Vimalaya Sutra.
The Vimal jacquard in the grotto has a sad face, no hair, and sits between mountains and rocks, which is very different from the classic image since the beginning of the Eastern Jin Dynasty painter Gu Kaizhi.
This special feature is unique among other grottoes in the country.
Grotto Six
The MingWangTang statue in Cave No. 6 is the largest of the Shizhongshan Grottoes.
What is even more precious is the complete carving of the Eight Great Ming Kings in this cave, which is unique among the grottoes in the country and is a fine product of tantric art carving.
(Source: Dreams of Mountains and Rivers)
The only stone statues in China with the theme of the Ming King can be compared with the statues of the Ten Great Ming Kings in the Dazu Baoding mountain grottoes in Chongqing, but the latter is a bust and the age is later.
This shows the preciousness of the statue of Ming Wangtang in the Shizhongshan Grottoes and its position in the history of domestic statue art.
Grotto Seven
The same is Guanyin, under the hands of the sculptor, the image is different. The Ganlu Guanyin (Caesarean Guanyin) of Grotto No. 7 has a dignified posture and a kind face, giving people a sense of peace and quiet.
"Ganlu Guanyin" is delicately carved, with the Tang and Song Dynasty relics of "wearing clothes as the wind", and from the face shape, it is a typical Bai woman, who is praised as the "Venus of the East".
Of course, there are many more, and we will not list them all.
(Cave 8 Ayubai Upper Cave Niche, Source: Mountains and Rivers Old Dream Dreams)
(Seated statue of cave king and queen concubine No. 9, source: Dream Of mountains and rivers)
Shizhongshan Grottoes is a "history of the Nanzhao Dali Kingdom" carved in stone, and is also an art science that integrates philosophy, literature, architecture, painting and carving.
Listening to others relay such a wonderful work is far less shocking and wonderful than seeing it yourself.
- end -
Source: Graphics and text integrated into the network
The copyright belongs to the original author, if there is any infringement, please contact us to deal with it in a timely manner