🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Maijishan North Niche 135
Northern Dynasties (Western Wei to Northern Zhou) · Northern Zhou Buddhist (Yuwen court patronage)
North-face shaded Maitreya pensive niche preserving straw-plastic polychrome.
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214 places in the atlas, 63 of them inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Northern Dynasties (Western Wei to Northern Zhou) · Northern Zhou Buddhist (Yuwen court patronage)
North-face shaded Maitreya pensive niche preserving straw-plastic polychrome.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sui to Tang · Sui-Tang Buddhist (Taiyuan Jinyang school)
Eastern 8-cave Sui peak of Tianlong Mountain above Taiyuan with Amitabha hall.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties to Qing (Western Wei to 19th c.) · Han-Tibetan Buddhist communities of Longxi
Yellow River Tibetan fringe 5-cave scarp Western Wei 540 CE seated Buddha with Tibetan repaint.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan · Hexi Buddhist (Northern Liang, Northern Wei, Sui, Tang, Uyghur, Tibetan, Yuan)
800-m-south Mati grotto cluster with 7-m Shakyamuni and horse-hoof legend slab.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Tang to Song (Late Tang Wei Junjing phase to Southern Song) · Sichuan Buddhist gentry (Dazu artisan guilds)
Dazu UNESCO eastern valley 150 niches Tang–Song 892–1169 with Avalokitesvara transformation.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Iron Age (regional) · Iron Age
Royal Henan Village South — Henan, Erlitou (54-16) at Henan, Erlitou, China is a Iron Age (regional) temple complex of the Iron Age tradition, built c. 2500 BCE for village and associated settlement.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Western Jin to Yuan (300 – 1300 CE) · Buddhist Hexi nomad to Tang imperial
Lower cliffs with 420 CE earliest inscribed cave 169 of 169 caves at Liujia Reservoir.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Later Qin to Song (384 – 1279 CE) · Buddhist Hexi to Central Plains transition at Wei River gap
East face stacked 90 caves 142 m hill with 16 m Buddha and plankway tiers.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (397 – 1368 CE) · North Asian Buddhist with Tibetan Yugur later
Thousand Buddha northern cliff with 30 caves and horse-hoof imprint 397–1368 CE.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang ~384–907 CE · Chinese Buddhist Northern Dynasties
Stacked-cliff wheat-plant-shaped grotto city with 7,200 sculptures on bolted plank galleries.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (366 – 1368 CE) northern cells 960–1300 · Buddhist monastic Dunhuang oasis international
North cliff austere monastic cells 1000–1300 CE opposite southern painted scripture halls.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Wei to Liao (453 – 525 CE peak) · Buddhist Tanyao imperial under Emperor Wencheng
Western 5 caves 40–45 with Tanyao Buddhas 15 m of Northern Wei Pingcheng capital.
🇨🇳 China · Megalith
Tang Dynasty 713–803 CE · Tang Chinese Buddhist (Maitreya cult)
71 m seated Maitreya monolith (713–803 CE) carved into Lingyun red sandstone cliff at confluence of Min and Dadu rivers, largest premodern Buddha worldwide.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties (Northern Qi imperial) · Northern Qi Imperial Buddhist (Ye capital Gao clan)
Qi royal 9-cave north cluster 550–577 North Cave Buddha with 1909 Freer looting and 3D reunion.
🇨🇳 China · Cave
Upper Palaeolithic (35000–12000 BP) · Upper Palaeolithic
Longmen Guyang Cave North Wall in Henan, Luoyang, China is a Upper Palaeolithic (35000–12000 BP) cave attributed to Upper Palaeolithic.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties to Tang (Northern Qi 550–577 peak) · North China Buddhist imperial patronage (Qi and Tang)
Quyang white-marble mountain 12 caves 550–750 CE South Cave Vairocana, quarry-monastery.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang · Western Qin to Tang Buddhist (Bingling synthesis)
South partition of monumental natural Cave 169 with 384 Sui–Tang niches and Tang donor cartouche.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Western Han Early 202–141 BCE · Han dynasty (Changsha Kingdom)
Family cemetery of Marquess of Dai (Li Cang, Prime Minister of Changsha Kingdom, Western Han, 202 BCE–9 CE) with three rectangular shaft tombs (168–145 BCE).
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Eastern Han to Tang (200 – 800 CE) · Tocharian Buddhist Kucha with Gandhara influence
Central 30–80 of 339 Kizil caves with 3.2 m diamond-vault Buddha of Tocharian Kucha 3rd–8th c.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Tang to Southern Song ~650–1252 CE · Chinese esoteric Buddhist (Tang–Song)
50,000 Tantric cliff sculptures — China's last Buddhist rock-cut synthesis at Baoding.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Ming to Qing 1406–1420 construction, occupied 1420–1912 CE · Ming / Qing Chinese imperial
Ming-Qing imperial palace (1420–1912, 961 buildings, 9,999 rooms) occupying 72 ha within Beijing's inner city, the world's largest wooden palace ensemble.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Eastern Wei to Tang (534 – 750 CE) · Buddhist Northern dynasties under Gao Qi and Tang
Cave 8 Manshan Buddha 3.6 m of Northern Qi–Tang on western slope.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Wei to Tang (493 – 750 CE) · Buddhist imperial Luoyang under Empress Dowager Hu
Central Binyang 11 m Buddha of Northern Wei Emperor Xuanwu at Yi Gorge.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms Northern Liang 412–439 · Northern Liang Buddhist (Xiongnu–Han)
Hexi Corridor prototype grottoes where Northern Liang Buddhism seeded Yungang's later scheme.
