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Luoyang Travel Comment
Just outside Luoyang, city of peonies, two hills - Xiangshan and Longmenshan - face each other across the Yi River as it flows northwards towards the Yellow River. The two hills, draped in cypress trees and slender pines, form a natural gateway, and the area has long been called the Yiqu (gateway of the Yi).
Here, since AD493, along an 800 metre stretch of the gorge, the pious have carved statues of Buddha, bodhissatvas and arhats into the soft sandstone cliffs. The first carving was started when Emperor Xaowen moved his capital frm Pincheng in Shanxi to Luoyang that year. Once started, the work continued through the dynasties. This was no new fad though: the Yungang Shikou near the old capital had been similarly decorated over the years.
At the Longmen Shiku, there are now more than 2300 caves and niches, 2800 inscriptions and more than 100,000 Buddist images. As well as providing a unique sample of Buddhist art style over the years, the carvings and inscriptions create a window on Chinese historical court life.
Northern Wei Dynasty: the deep, narrow Guyang Cave with its spectacular carved ceiling, which was the first cave created; Binyangzhongdong, which took centuries to complete; Liahuadong; Weizi Cave, Huangfugong Cave
Tang Dynasty: Fengxiansi, Wanfodong, Qianxisi, Kanjinsi, Dawanwufodong. The Tang Fengxiansi is, for many, the highlight, with its 17m high Losana Buddha, accompanied by Ananda and Kasyapa. Nearby the bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra attend, with other attendants and disciples keeping them company. The intricacy of the carving is best exhibited by the mischievous Yaksa being stamped on by the heavenly king to the right. The main buddha is rumoured to have been modelled on the face of the powerful, yet rather nasty, Empress Wu Zetian. Early in the morning, the warm glow of the stone and the steaming mist rising from the Yi (in winter) create a supremely peaceful scene.
Other Tang highlights include the left hand wall of the Wanfodong with its sheer wall of tiny niches and one larger niche high up near the ceiling. Look out for the carved musicians.
I particularly like the Wei Binyangzhongdong caves, which are among the first caves you reach from the north. The Tang statues are more three-dimensional and realistic than the earlier relief Northern Wei carvings: many prefer the Tang art, but it is worth remembering that the earlier carvings were more spiritual in nature, and completed in a time of great uncertainty and constant strife across much of China.
The western side of the gorge is where most of the carvings are situated, and on the eastern side the temples and pagodas proliferate. The Longmen Caves can be seen in an hour and a half, but the whole gorge is a peaceful pace to relax and recharge batteries.
Some of the more spectacular carvings are, sadly, no longer in-situ, as Longmen Shikou was pillaged by Western archaeologists in the 19th and early 20th Century. Next time you pass the MoMA in New York, you might enquire as to when they intend returning the roof carvings ripped out of the Longmen Caves. Equally sadly, during the campaign against the Four Olds in the Cultural Revolution, many carvings and statues were badly damaged or destroyed, giving Western collectors and museums the easy excuse that they were 'protecting' the relics.
