Located 45 kilometers southeast of Tianshui City (tiān shuǐ shì 天水市) in Gansu Province (gān sù shěng 甘肃省), Maiji Mountain (mài jī shān 麦积山) rises up abruptly 142 meters from the landscape. The people named the mountain 'Maiji' because it resembles a stack of wheat straw (mai meaning wheat, and ji meaning stack). Maiji Mountain is 150 meters tall, and it was named for its shape. According to historical records, the Maiji Grottoes (mài jī shān shí kū 麦积山石窟) were excavated during the Hou Qin Dynasty of the Sixteen Kingdom Period. The Maiji Mountain Grottoes have a long history.


Overview

The Maijishan Grottoes (mài jī shān shí kū 麦积山石窟) 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. Because of its exquisite clay statues and superb sculptural skills, Maiji Caves acquired special recognition. They have been classified as an 'Oriental Statues Exhibition Hall'. Maiji Caves are one of the four most important caves in China.

The other threes are Mogao Caves (mò gāo kū 莫高窟) in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, Yungang Caves (yún gāng shí kū 云冈石窟) in Datong, Shanxi Province, and Longmen Grottoes (lóng mén shí kū 龙门石窟) in Luoyang, Henan Province. Their emphasis is on exquisite statues and beautiful natural scenes, while the others' are on florid murals or magnificent stonecutting.


History

During the Beizhou Dynasty, Liyunxin (lǐyǔn xìn 李允信) built the Seven-Buddha Pavilion in memory of his deceased father. Emperor Wen Di of the Sui Dynasty (suí wén dì  隋文帝) ordered the construction of a Buddhist nun site. The present dagoba on the top of the mountain was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. A lot of the original temples have been destroyed, but a lot remain. There are very old frescoes dating from before the Sui Dynasty (suí cháo 隋朝).

Maijishan has an especially interesting location as it is located close to the E-W route that connected Xi'an with Lanzhou and eventually Dunhuang (dūn huáng 敦煌), as well as the route that veers off to the south that connected (and still connects) Xi'an with Chengdu in Sichuan and regions as far south as India. This crossroads location is interesting as several of the sculptures in Maijishan that appear around the 6th Century, appear to have Indian—and even SE Asian—features that could have come north via these N-S routes. The earliest artistic influence came, however, from the northwest, through Central Asia along the Silk Road. Later, during the Sung and Ming Dynasties, as the caves were renovated and repaired, the influences came from central and eastern China and the sculpture is more distinctly Chinese.

Cave shrines in China probably served two purposes: originally, before Buddhism came to China, they may have been used as local shrines to worship one's ancestors or various nature deities. With the coming of Buddhism to China, however, influenced by the long tradition of cave shrines from India and Central Asia, they became part of China's religious architecture.
Buddhism in this part of China spread through the support of the Northern Liang (běi liáng 北凉), which was the last of the "16 Kingdoms" that existed from 304-439 CE—a collection of numerous short-lived sovereign states in China. The Northern Liang were Xiongnu, "barbarians". It was during their rule that cave shrines first appeared in Gansu Province, the two most famous sites being Tiandishan ("Celestial Ladder Mountain") south of their capital at Yongcheng, and Wenshushan ("Manjusri's Mountain"), halfway between Yongcheng and Dunhuang. Maijishan was most likely started during this wave of religious enthusiasm.

Sometime between 420 and 422 CE, a monk by the name of Tanhung arrived at Maijishan and proceeded to build a small monastic community. One of the legends is that he had previously been living in Chang'an but had fled to Maijishan when the city was invaded by the Sung army. Within a few years he was joined by another senior monk, Xuangao, who brought 100 followers to the mountain. Both are recorded in a book entitled Memoirs of Eminent Monks; eventually their community grew to 300 members. Xuangao later moved to the court of the local king where he remained until its conquest by the Northern Wei, when he, together with all the other inhabitants of the court, were forced to migrate and settle in the Wei capital. He died in 444 during a period of Buddhist persecution. Tanhung also left Maijishan during this period and travelled south, to somewhere in Cochin China, when in approximately 455, he burned himself to death.

How the original community was organized or looked, we don't know. "Nor is there any evidence to show whether the settlement they founded was destroyed and its members scattered in the suppression of 444 and the ensuring years, or whether it was saved by its remoteness to become a heaven of refuse, as was to happen on several later occasions in the history of Maijishan".

The Wei Dynasty was good to Maijishan and the grottoes existence close to the Wei capital city of Loyang and the main road west brought the site recognition and, most likely, support. The earliest dated inscription is from 502, and records the excavation of what is now identified as Cave 115. Other inscriptions record the continued expansion of the grottoes, as works were dedicated by those with the financial means to do so.
 

Geographic Features and Climate

The southern and eastern parts of the city are mountainous, while the north is a loess hilly area (with soil comprised mainly of wind-blown sediment). A fraction of the central area lies in the river valley. As a whole, the City's terrain slopes downward, from northwest to southeast.
Tianshui has a monsoon-influenced, four-season, cool semi-arid climate, with seasons of comparatively equal length. Winters are cold but dry, with an average January temperature of −2 °C, while summers are warm and somewhat humid, with an average July temperature of 22.8 °C. Much of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September, and the annual mean temperature is 11.0 °C.
 

Attractions

In the area are preserved 194 grottoes of dynasties such as the Beiwei, Xiwei, Beizhou, Sui, and Tang, the Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing. There are 7000 clay sculptures and carved stone statues. This grotto group, unlike the column-centered caves in the famous Mogao Grottoes, was built fully according to ancient Chinese tradition. Many fine statues, carved before the Sui Dynasty, are much more valuable than the statues in the Mogao Grottoes that were modified afterwards during several dynasties.

The artistic style in these grottoes show the influence of Central Asian cultures. The Maijishan Grottoes display the features of the culture of the Central Plains because its geographical position is near the Central Plains. The Yungang Grottoes, Sichuan Dazu Rock Carvings, Huangze Temple Caves and the Maijishan Grottoes impacted each other in style.

In the Maijishan Grottoes, the tallest statue is 16 meters tall and the smallest is only 10 cm tall. The statue in Grotto No. 44 is called "The Venus of the East."On the frocks of the statues in Grotto No. 78 and Grotto No. 128, patterns were curved with vivid detail. In Seven-Buddha Pavilion that is over 70 meters in height, the statue is of delicate beauty, and on the top of the aisle the frescoes are exquisite. At the western end of the aisle, are carved carriages and pedestrians which are heading different directions which can be viewed from different angles. It can be rated as the masterpiece of Chinese fresco composition.

On the sheer cliff that marks the southwest side of Maiji Mountain, people have labored for centuries carving niches and caves, giving rise to what is known today as the Maiji Caves. Inside the caves are clay statues, whose heights vary from 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) to 15 meters (over 49 feet). Besides 194 Buddhist caves and niches, containing more than 7, 200 clay statues, there are also murals of over 1, 300 square meters (about 1, 555 square yards) in the Maiji Caves as well. These statues are works of art that reflect ancient craftsmanship and dedication to the Buddhist ideal. Rarely can one find caves and statues carved over sheer cliffs in China, and this is one of the most distinguishing features of Maiji Caves. Being carved on the cliff, these caves are connected by plank roads that hang precariously along the face of the cliff. Visitors can only reach each cave by using these plank roads, which offers a breathtaking experience.

Another curious feature of the statues is their trend toward secularization, that is, a move toward depicting the icons as man rather than god. Except for statues built in the early period, almost all Buddhist statues look affable and accessible. They were no longer gods standing high in the heaven, but rather became more like common people.

There are other places of interest near Maiji Mountain as well, Xianren Cliff  (xiān rén yá 仙人崖), Shimen Mountain (shí mén shān 石门山) and Quxi (qǔ xī 曲溪), all offer fine panoramic views of mountains, rivers and plants in Northwest China.
 

Location: 45 kilometers (about 28 miles) southeast of Tianshui City in Gansu Province
Tel: 0938-2731407
Transportation: Get to Tianshui City first and then wait for the bus 34 (Tianshui Railway Station - Maijishan) which is leaving every 15 minutes from 06:30-19:30. Get off the bus and you can find the ticket office of Maijishan 30 meters away from the bus station.
Opening Hours: 8:00-17:00
Admission Fee: Through Ticket of Maiji Mountain Scenic Area: CNY 70 per person
                       Ticket excluding Maiji Caves: CNY 20 per person 
Sightseeing Bus Fare: CNY 10 including return trip
Travel Tips:
1. After the journey up the mountain on electric 10-passenger cars, there is a further 15 minutes of walking on sloping road to get to the grottoes.
2. The stairway and gantry access to the grottoes on the face of the mountain is steep and narrow.