🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Beishan Grottoes Dazu
Tang to Southern Song · Late Tang to Song Sichuan Buddhist (Wei Junjing to Zhao Zhifeng line)
UNESCO Beishan's 290-niche scholar's cliff 2 km north of Dazu with Song filial piety reliefs.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Yungang West Cave 20
Northern Wei (Northern Dynasties) · Northern Wei royal Buddhist (Toba Wei imperial atelier under Tanyao)
13.7-m open-fronted seated Buddha of Yungang's Five Tanyao west series — most iconic Wei colossus.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Maijishan Western Cliff Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Song · Later Qin, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song
Sheer west face 80 m with 72 hanging grottoes on plank balconies — Maijishan postcard cliff.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Bingling Temple Upper Gorge Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Early Tang · Western Qin, Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang
8-km-upstream Western Qin cliff with 420 CE earliest murals above reservoir.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Bingling Temple South Cave 169
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 · 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.