The Grottos on Xiangtang Mountain lie on the Drum Mountain in the Fengfeng mining area in Handan City, Heibei Province.
The caves in Xiangtang Mountain are very deep, and the mountain is so named because the stones there are so solid and delicate that they will give out rhythmic sound when one whisks it with his/her sleeves. During the reign of Emperor Wenxuan in the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577), he set the capital in Ye (today's Linzhang) and Jinyang (today's Taiyuan City) successively. Therefore Emperor Wenxuan often came and went between the two capitals, where Xiangtang Mountain became the place he had to pass through. Because of the bright mountains and limpid waters, the emperor vigorously had people built palaces, chiseled grottos and constructed temples. For a time this place became prosperous. Later, through the continuous repairs and enlargements of the past dynasties such as the Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, the grottos became the biggest one with the longest history in Heibei Province. Now there are 16 extant well-preserved caves, more than 3,400 statues, respectively distributed at the south and middle foots of the Drum Mountain, which are called the Southern Grottos and the Northern Grottos, with a distance of 15 kilometers between them.
The grottos on the Southern Xiangtang Mountain are chiseled along the mountain. At the southern foot of the mountain stands the Xiangtang Temple. The extant main hall, side hall, storied buildings along the mountain, brick pagodas, and houses for monks were all constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Behind the temple there are seven big and small grottos along the mountains, divided into two floors, five grottos on the upper floor, and two on the lower floor. Among them, the largest one, called the Huayan Grotto, is 6.3 meters wide, inside which the statues of Buddha of various shapes and postures are graceful and elegant. There are 1,028 statues in the One-Thousand Cave, on the top of which are the basso-relievos of flying Apsaras, looking very pretty and charming, with the girdles fluttering in the air. Some of them are playing Pipa (a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard), while some are playing the Sheng (a reed pipe wind instrument)
The grottos on the Southern Xiangtang Mountain are on the steep cliffs, and there are altogether nine statues in three groups: the southern, northern and middle. The middle group appears like pavilions, inside which there are many basso-relievos of flowers, animals, statues of Buddha, which are simple and elegant. The largest one, called the Big Buddha Cave, is 13.3 meters wide and 12.5 meters deep. Inside, there is a statue of sitting Buddha of about 4 meters high, which is graceful and dignified, with well-rounded muscles and soft lines, and no ornaments on the face. Though exposed to the elements for more than one thousand years, the statue of Buddha still appears bright and clean as if it were new. The inner and outer walls of the Sutra Carving Cave are carved with scriptures all over. In front of the mountain there used to be a temple called the Changle Temple, but now only an octagonal nine-storeyed brick pagoda stands there, becoming the important symbol of the grottos. On the top of Xiangtang Mountain there are some precious cultural relics preserved such as the Eastern Palace, the Western Palace, stone pillars inscribed with Buddhist scriptures of the Song and Jin dynasties, tablet engravings and so on.
Email to Friends
Print
Save