I. Mogao Grottoes
The Mogao Grottoes, also known as "Thousand Buddha Cave", located 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, is one of the four grottoes art treasures in China. In the second year of Fujian Jianyuan in the former Qin Dynasty (AD 366), a Samoan believer came here, and when he saw the golden light on Mingsha Mountain and thousands of Buddhas, he sprouted the heart of digging, and then he continued to build it and became a Buddhist holy place.
Mogao grottoes is the largest existing "world art treasure house", which was listed as a world cultural heritage by UNESCO in 1978. The artistic features of the Mogao Grottoes are manifested in the organic combination of architecture, statues and murals. The art of Mogao Grottoes is a comprehensive art integrating architecture, painted sculptures and murals. It is the largest and best-preserved treasure house of Buddhist art in China and even in the world.
Second, Yungang Grottoes
Yungang Grottoes, located in Datong City, Shanxi Province, represent the excellent Buddhist grottoes art in China from the 5th century to the 6th century. Among them, the Tan Yao Grottoes with strict and unified layout is the classic masterpiece of China's Buddhist art at its first peak.
The grottoes were dug in the second year of Xing 'an in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 453), and most of them were completed before the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang (AD 494), and the carving work continued until Zheng Guangnian (AD 520-525). It inherited the essence of realistic art in Qin and Han Dynasties and initiated the romanticism in Sui and Tang Dynasties. It is also known as the "Three Grottoes in China" with the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu and Longmen Grottoes in Henan, and it is also one of the world-famous stone carving art treasures.
Yungang Grottoes became one of the largest ancient grottoes in China. 196 1 was declared as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council, and was listed as a world cultural heritage in 200 1.
Third, Longmen Grottoes.
Longmen Grottoes, located at12km south of Luoyang, is one of the three largest grottoes in China, which are equally famous as Yungang Grottoes in Datong and Thousand Buddha Cave Grottoes in Dunhuang. Grottoes and temples show the largest and best plastic arts in China from the late Northern Wei Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty (AD 493-907). These works of art describe the religious themes in Buddhism in detail and represent the highest peak of stone carving art in China.
Bai Juyi once said: "The landscape in the suburbs of Luoyang wins, and Longmen is the first." Longmen Grottoes were dug around the time when Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved to Luoyang (AD 494), with a history of 1500 years. Later, after the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasties, the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, it was continuously built on a large scale for more than 400 years.
It is worth mentioning that the title of "Longmen Twenty Products" began in the Qing Dynasty. The so-called "20 products of Longmen" refers to the inscriptions of 20 statues selected from Longmen Grottoes in Central and Northern Wei Dynasty, of which 19 are in Guyang Cave and one is in Cixiang Cave.
"Longmen Twenty Products" is the quintessence of calligraphy art in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The calligraphy art it represents evolved on the basis of the official script of Han and Jin Dynasties. The font is dignified and generous, rich and simple, with official script style and regular script factors. It is the representative of "Weibei" style and occupies a very high position in the history of calligraphy art development in China.