After great time in Xiannvshan visiting Three Natural Bridges and Furong Cave, parts of the UNESCO listed South China Karst, we made a day trip with guide from Chongqing to Dazu for another World Heritage Site. At the outer entrance of Dazu, literally means big foot but also means plentiful land, we had to choose between 30-minute walk to the real entrance or 10-minute ride on electric golf cart, we easily chose the latter. Along the way crossing the large buffer zone, we saw impressive building museum, Chinese temple styled halls, Chinese Buddhist statues, gardens, so big so grand that almost like a pathway to imperial palace!

Unfortunately, when we reached the inner gate, rain started to pour down, so the entrance was chaotic with tourists rushed to take shelter. Luckily that we all had umbrella so we could continue our tour immediately. Like other review, the vivid color of all sculpture was the first thing to impress, really contrast to Longmen and Yungang Grottoes. The mix of Buddhism, local belief, Taoism figures and symbols is unique and explanation from the guide to understand is needed. According to my guide Baodingshan was initiated by Zhao Zhifeng, a local monk who wanted to create this holy land to glorify his hero Liu Benzun, a Buddhist saint, so the first scene from the entrance is the story of Liu Benzun. After that most of the scenes are depicting Buddha and many bodhisattvas, but also about local folklore and Confucianism value stories. Taoist gods and angel figures mainly used as decoration to fill the gap of each scene. In front of unfinished reclining Buddha, there is a realistic Zhao Zhifeng statue.

After the reclining Buddha scene, inside the protective shelter hall, is the gilded one thousand-armed Guanyin Bodhisattva. This recently restored image is probably one of the most stunning arts in China, the sea of 1,007 hands is unbelievable. Next to the hall is three beautiful images of Vairocana, Manjushri and Samantabhadra, seeing the latter two Bodhisattva images made me think of my visits to Wutaishan and Emeishan. The Wheel of Reincarnation or six-paths with giant hungry ghost is a next must see, depicting local Buddhist philosophy of human and animal rebirth and the rays from the wheel, representing enlightenment. At Cave of Complete Enlightenment, the craftsmanship inside this cave is the best, the facial expression and clothing of each Bodhisattva is the zenith of art in Baodingshan. The rest of rock craving are built in later periods from Ming to Qing, the quality and style are noticeable. I also found that the temples above Baodingshan is also lovely with Sichuan vernacular architecture like those temples at Emeishan and Qingchengshan.

Since the overall style is Southern Song art, a later development from Tang art as in Longmen. For me visiting Yungang and Longmen before Dazu is the must as the visitor can see how the Chinese art changed from Northern Wei to Song. Especially from Tang to Song, the simplicity elegant of Tang was further developed and embellished, as a result Song was gorgeous with Tang elements but loaded with realistic details. The art of Baodingshan truly captured the spirit of Song art, the realistic figure with a sense of flowing movement even though the quality was not great when compared with works done by imperial supported sculptors as in Longmen and Yungang. All in all, Dazu is a must-see World Heritage Site of China that makes Chongqing the blessed land with both culture and nature certified by UNESCO.