Longmen Grottoes
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Longmen Grottoes began to be built around A.D.493, the time when Emperor Xiaowen of North Wei Dynasty was about to move the country's capital to Luoyang. Later the construction work was continued in West Wei Dynasty, East Wei Dynasty, North Qi Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and the period of Five Dynasties and Ten States. Within the 1000 meters long scenic area from north to south, there are over 100,000 statues in more than 2000 caves made during a process of over five centuries. Thousands of sculptures and caves preserved in the Yi Mountain and Que Mountain are the superb works made during North Wei Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, two dynasties that witnessed the construction climax of Longmen Grottoes.
Among thousands of caves made during North Wei Dynasty, Guyang Cave, Mid-Binyang Cave, Lianhua Cave and Shikong Temple are the most valuable, representative caves. Of these ones, Guyang Cave contains a series of sculptures of some earlier royal family members and ministers of the royal court when the capital was just moved to Luoyang. The sculptures in this cave demonstrate fully how sincerely people in the whole country worshiped Buddhism at that time. It is a live representative of the earliest Gandhara styles grotto art in Luoyang and a precious record of the harmonious fusion of traditional Chinese culture and foreign culture.
Fengxian Temple
Perching at the south end of the west Longmen Mongtain, Fengxian Temple has Longmen Grottoes' largest and the most typical stone sculptures of Buddha in the open air. The main Buddha sculpture-Vairocana Buddha, 17.14 meters in height, is the largest Buddha sculpture in Longmen Grottoes. Clad in kasāya (Buddha cloth), the sculpture has a plump, benign face. The up-curving corners of mouth shows a heartfelt smile. Under the slightly drooping eye lids, the calm eyes radiates with profound wisdom and infinite care of human beings. The sculpture's noble, magnanimous, simple, kind, and calm bearing finds anybody in his presence immersed in utmost awe and filled with deepest esteem. At his two sides, buddha Ēnán bears a serious and experienced looking, buddha Kasyapa looks sincere and obedient, Avalokitesvara handsome and reserved, Guardian kings' terrifying knitted eyebrows and Buddha's warrior attendants masculine and powerful. The vivid, diversified facial expressions and gestures of these statues embody the utmost achievement in the field of stone sculpture art during the prime period of Tang Dynasty and stand as the unsurpassed rarity in the history of stone sculpture art. It is said that Empress Wu Zetian of Tang Dynasty donated 20,000 guan (unit of money measurement) for the construction of this temple and attended, accompanied by her royal court, the "Kaiguang" (seeing the sun) ceremony of the statue of Vairocana Buddha.
Xiangshan Temple
Xiangshan Temple perches at the half way up the east Longmen Mountain. The archaic, simple temple complex hides amid the verdant foliages of pines and cypresses. The construction work of this temple began in the first year of Xiping Period in North Wei Dynasty (A.D.516) and was renovated in the first year of Tianshou Period of Tang Dynasty (A.D. 690) ordered by Empress Wu Zetian in beseech of king Liang who was called Wu Sansi, and the temple was since then called Xiangshan Temple. After the renovation that time, Xiangshan temple was depicted as follows, "The sky is scraped by the high temple and the top of Heaven is poked by its edges. Seven stone statues of Buddha reside in the temple with eight corners." In the sixth year of Taihe Period of Emperor Wenzong of Tang Dynasty (A.D. 832), one of the three most accomplished poets in Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi, donated the payment he earned for writing the epitaph of Yuan Zheng (another famous writer in Tang Dynasty who is Bai's close friend) to the renovation of Xiangshan Temple. He also wrote an article titled On the Renovation of Xiangshan Temple. The celebrity of Longmen Mountain and Xiangshan Temle was further enhanced by this great favor done by such a renowned poet as Bai Juyi. Later he compiled his more than 800 poems written during his 12 years' stay in Luoyang into an anthology consist of ten volumes with the title of Baishi Luozhong Ji, which literarily means: the anthology Bai Juyi's poem written in Luoyang, and had it preserved in Xiangshan Temple. He spent quite a long period of time in Xiangshan Temple and called himself "Retired Scholar of Xiangshan". Bai Juyi, together with eight of his contemporaries, Hu Guo, Jie Jiao, Zhen Ju, Liu Zhen, Lu Fu, Zhang Hun, Li Yuanshuang, Sen Ruman called themselves "Nine Patriarchs of Xiangshan".
Bai Yuan
Bai Yuan is a park built on the basis of the graveyard of the great poet Bai Juyi of Tang Dynasty. It lies atop the Peak of Pipa in the east Longmen Mountain which is 12 kilometers south of the Luoyang downtown zone. Covering 44 mu, it is divided into four parts: the Qinggu Section, the Graveyard Section, the Poetry Porch Section and the Administrative Section. Within the Qinggu Section, pathways are flanked by groves of bamboos and waterfalls splashes down from high up, amidst which many a Tang style pavilions like Letian Hall, Tingyi Pavilion, Songgang Pavilion can be seen now and then. In Letian Hall there is a statue of Bai Juyi and the introduction to the development and distribution of his offspring in Luoyang. In the Graveyard Section, there is a semi-globe tomb, a tomb tablet, a lying tombstone made of a great raw rock, black-topped tomb gate, a flight of steps to the tomb circled with sundry trees and flowers like cypresses and peonies. Its particular design gives visitors a solemn and noble feeling. On the lying tombstone was scripted the Biography of Mr. Zuiyin (Bai Juyi), which is China's largest book scripted on stone. To the north of the Graveyard Section is the Poetry Porch Section, within which are the Daoshi Study and CuiYue Pavilion. Here, stone scriptures, paintings and calligraphic works according to the poems of Bai Juyi by contemporary calligraphers and painters are displayed and various books about the life story of Bai Juyi and books of Bai's writings are also on display. Circled by rivers and facing many mountains, Bai Yuan is one of the most famous scenic attractions in Luoyang for its fascinating natural beauty.
Twenty Products of Longmen
The Twenty Products of Longmen means the twenty inscriptions that record the statue-making process in Longmen Grottoes. Of the twenty inscriptions, 19 are in Guyang Cave and one in Cixiang Cave. The first time the Twenty Products of Longmen were so called was in Guangyizhou Shuangji, written by Kang Youwei, a famous politician in the late Qing Dynasty and in Writingson Xiaobei, written by Fang Ruo, another famous writer in late Qing Dynasty. The contents of most of these inscriptions are to express the statue donators' wish to get rid of disasters and prayer for good luck and happiness. These calligraphic works have a particular style of their own by drawing the strong points of different styles, especially the Li style of Han Dynasty and the Li style of Jin Dynasty. This style possesses at the same time the primeval simplicity and strength of Li style and the civility and decency of Kai style (another calligraphic style appeared after Li style) and embodied the superb calligraphic accomplishment in North Wei Dynasty.
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