The Maijishan Grottoes are a
series of 194 caves cut in the side of the hill of Majishan in Tianshui,
Gansu Province, northwest China. This example of rock cut architecture
contains over 7,200 Buddhist sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of
murals. Construction began in the Later Qin era (384-417 CE). 05 more images after the break...
They were first properly
explored in 1952-53 by a team of Chinese archeologists from Beijing, who
devised the numbering system still in use today. Caves #1-50 are on the
western cliff face; caves #51-191 on the eastern cliff face. They were
later photographed by Michael Sullivan and Dominique Darbois, who
subsequently published the primary English-language work on the caves
noted in the footnotes below.
The name Maijishan consists of
three Chinese words that literally translate as "Wheatstack Mountain",
but because the term "mai" (?) is the generic term in Chinese used for
most grains, one also sees such translations as "Corn rick mountain".
Mai means "grain". Ji means "stack" or "mound". Shan means "mountain".
The mountain is formed of purplish red sandstone. They are just one of
the string of Buddhist grottoes that can be found in this area of
northwest China, lying more or less on the main routes connecting China
and Central Asia.
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