The Cliffside Statues of Kongwang Mountain are located on Kongwang Mountain, two kilometers south of Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province.
There are written records about the Cliffside Statues of the Kongwang Mountain from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The cliffside statues are situated in the west, at the southern foot of the mountain, and include 105 sculptures in 18 groups that are 15.6 meters long from east to west and 9.7 meters high. Among the statues, the largest measures 1.54 meters, and the smallest, 10 centimeters. Seventy meters east of the Cliffside Statues is a stone statue of an elephant with a long trunk, big tusks, curved tail and thick legs, with a man on its back. One hundred and fifty meters south of the Cliffside Statues is a stone statue of a toad.
The themes of the statues are based on the story of Sakyamuni. Also included are pictures of Nirvana, a banquet party, sitting Buddha, standing Buddha and donators. Dating back 200 years before the Dunhuang Grottoes (366), they are the oldest carvings of Chinese grotto art and the embryonic form of Buddhism in China.
Email to Friends
Print
Save