🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Yinshan Central Dahekou Ridge Rock Art
Late Bronze to Turkic Early Medieval · Northern Ordos, Xiongnu, Xianbei
Central ridge above Dahekou gorge bridging Yinshan naturalism and Helan mask styles.
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🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Chifeng Ongniud Banner Petroglyphs
Neolithic to Medieval (Hongshan to Liao-Jin) · Hongshan, Lower Xiajiadian, Ordos and Khitan Liao
Eastern Yinshan steppe granite with 3000 Neolithic–Khitan images, Hongshan–Yinshan bridge.
🇨🇳 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.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Tianlongshan East Cave Taiyuan
Sui to Tang · Sui-Tang Buddhist (Taiyuan Jinyang school)
Eastern 8-cave Sui peak of Tianlong Mountain above Taiyuan with Amitabha hall.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Mati Temple West Thousand Buddha Cliff
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang · Hexi Buddhist (Xiliang, N Wei, Sui, Tang)
1.2-km-west thousand-niche vertical cliff with 1200 Buddhas and Tang malachite murals.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Kangla Grottoes (Minhe) — Yellow River Tibetan Fringe
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 · Ancient city
Erligang (Zhengzhou Shang City)
Early Shang Erligang 1600–1400 BCE (Xia→Shang transition) · Early Shang (Erligang culture, Zhengzhou phase)
Erligang (Zhengzhou Shang City) — Early Shang walled capital (c.1600–1400 BCE, Erligang culture) under modern Zhengzhou old city, excavated 1950s–80s An Jinhuai and Zou Heng (Henan Institute).
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Yinshan West Wulashan Rock Art
Bronze Age to Early Medieval · Ordos, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic (Yinshan frontier)
West mesa of Wulashan with naturalistic tiger and chariot rut petroglyphs.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Mati Temple South Grotto
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 · Pyramid
Qianling Mausoleum – Tang Gaozong & Wu Zetian Pyramid Mountain
Tang Dynasty (Gaozong + Wu Zetian reigns 649–705; tomb built 684–706) · Tang Chinese
Unique mountain tomb leveraging natural 1047 m limestone hill Liangshan as pyramidal mass (natural hill shaped then faced), topped no artificial pile but mountain tomb representing Chinese 'mountain…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Beishan Niche Complex — Dazu Extension Eastern Valley
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 · Ancient village
Hemudu Archaeological Site
Hemudu culture 5500–3300 BCE · Hemudu (Hangzhou Bay maritime rice farmers)
Waterlogged neolithic pile-dwelling settlement (5500–3300 BCE) on Yao River coastal plain, type-site of Hemudu culture famous for earliest Chinese rice cultivation (paddy with wooden plough),…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Panlongcheng Archaeological Site
Early Shang Erligang phase 1600–1300 BCE · Shang (Erligang) colonists over indigenous Yangtze
Earliest Shang walled town south of the Yellow River (c.1600–1300 BCE) at Panlong Lake north of Wuhan, proving Early Shang (Erligang phase) military–resource colonization 800 km south to control…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
Gaochang to Yuan 500–1300 CE · Uyghur Buddhist (ancient Uyghur–Tocharian)
Turpan depression Uyghur Buddhist cliff with 77 donor-portrait caves below sea level.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Longyou Caves
Warring States to Han (~300 BCE – 100 CE; debated) · Yue / early Han Chinese
Twenty-four enormous man-made siltstone caverns rediscovered in 1992 after 2,000 years of siltation, each a single chamber 10–30 m high hewn with chisels that left uniform parallel tooling covering…
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Mawangdui Han Tombs
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
Kizil Caves (Bezeklik precursor)
Six Dynasties to Tang ~300–800 CE · Tocharian Kuchean Buddhist with Gandharan influence
Kucha's 236 lapis-blue Jataka caves - China's earliest Buddhist grottoes on the Silk Road.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Dahekou Yellow River — Baiyin Pingchuan East Bank Petroglyphs
Late Neolithic to Qin–Han (3000 BCE – 200 CE) · Qiang-related pastoralist Hexi corridor culture
Two-panel deer and archer ochre hillside at Yellow River east bank, 3000–4000 BP.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Bingling Temple Lower Grottoes — Liujia Gorge Yellow River Cliffs
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 art
Huaishan Rock Art — Lantian Blue Mountain Petroglyphs
Neolithic Longshan to Zhou (3000 BCE – 770 BCE) · Yangshao–Longshan farmer to Zhou frontier pastoral
Qinling foothill gorge with 30+ ibex and rayed humans of Longshan era.
🇨🇳 China · Pyramid
Goguryeo Pyramidal Tombs – Jian (Ji'an)
Goguryeo Kingdom 37 BCE–668 CE (pyramids 3–7 c CE peak) · Goguryeo (Korean–Chinese proto-state)
Eastern Asia's largest tumulus pyramid cluster: 7,000+ stone step-pyramids and earthen mounds 3 Kingdoms Goguryeo (37 BCE–668 CE) across Ji'an (Tonggou, Guonei) and DPRK Pyongyang cluster.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains
Tang → Yuan → Ming Yongle peak → Qing · Taoist (Zhenwu / Xuanwu school)
Taoist sacred mountain complex on 72 peaks 800–1612 m, 9 palaces, 36 convents and 72 cliff temples built primarily 1412–1424 under Ming Yongle emperor (200,000 artisans) as political legitimation…
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Bingling Temple Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms → Qing 420–1911 · Buddhist (Hexi Silk Road)
Yellow River gorge sanctuary of 183 caves and 694 statues cut into 60 m yellow sandstone cliff above reservoir since 420 CE (Western Qin) to Qing, famous for 27 m Maitreya Buddha (Tang) carved from…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Maijishan Eastern Cliff — Tianshui Stacked Grottoes East Face
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.