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Datong, Shanxi Province
Among the unsung wonders of China's history-soaked heritage are the 1,500-year-old Buddhist grottoes of Datong ---an eight-hour train journey from Beijing---in Shanxi Province.
In a valley at Yungang, some 10 miles west of Datong and easily reached by taxi or public bus, more than 50 recesses have been dug into the hills and filled with Buddhist statues of various sizes and shapes, 51,000 altogether.
From the 56-foot Seated Buddha to tiny figures just a few centimeters tall, every wall and archway is crammed with carvings, including serial-type representations of scenes from Buddhist mythology and the lives of famous monks.
Datong has several other tourist attractions – such as the 600-year-old Nine-Dragon Screen made of glazed tiles, the Huayan Monastery with the largest wooden shrine hall in China, and the Shanhua Monastery, intact since 713. |
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