Maijishan Grottoes
As one of the major cities along the Silk Road, Tianshui has kept many precious memories of the eastward spreading of cultures from the Western Regions, Known as the famous "Oriental Sculpture Museum". Maijishan Grottoes are located within the Tianshui territory, As one of the four major group grottoes in China, digging of the Maijishan Grottoes started by the Later Qin during the Northern and the Southern Dynasty Period, dating back more than sixteen hundred years, Now Maijishan Grottoes host one hundred and ninety-four caves with more than seven thousand and two hundred stone statues and one thousand three hundred square metres of mural paintings.
Introduction of Maijishan Grottoes:
Maiji Mountain is an isolated mountain surrounded by cliffs and green forests, it has beautiful scenery. when you climbing on the cliff's overhanging trestle road, you can not only enjoy the Buddhist art, but also visit the surrounding scenery, and that is quite worth to visit.
In which I have to say it is a wonderful mountain in Xiaolong Mountain at the east end of Qinling Mountain in China. 1.742 metres above sea level and 30 kilometres away from Tianshui Train Station. Though only 142 metres high, the mountain has strange shape and towering peak like wheat stacks, so known as Maiji (wheat pile in Chinese). There are cliffs to the southwest of the peak. The famous Maiji Grottoes were cut on such cliffs, some 20-30 metres and some 70-80 metres away from the base of the mountain. Among Chinese grottoes, it has been rare to cut nearly 1,000 caves and Buddha statues in such precipitous cliffs.
What to visit in Maijishan Grottoes?
When you reach the bottom of Maiji Mountain, you will see the green and beautiful scenery around it. On the exposed side of the rock wall, the layers of hanging trestles were built. The hanging trestles were very dangerous, with a height of more than 600 metres. A number of large and small caves and Buddha statues were excavated between the trestles, and the pictures taken under the mountains is very spectacular.
The travel route of Maijishan Grottoes is very simple, as long as you walk up the wooden trestle road in the mountains, you can visit various of Grottoes along the side. when you visiting the grottoes you will find that many of the wooden sidewalks under your feet are now reinforced with cement, which is quite exciting. Maijishan Grottoes are well preserved. Nowadays, except for some special grottoes, most of them can be visited. Walking on the trestle road, you can see that the size of the Buddha cave is not spectacular at first, although the Buddha statues are very small, many of them are protected by wire mesh, meanwhile, there are many Buddha statues in the cave, and they are very stupendous.
When you visiting the grottoes, you can focus on the 135 caves (Paradise Cave), 142 caves, 37 caves, 127 caves, 44 caves and so on. travellers can not only hear the classic Buddhist story but also visit the exquisite sculptures such as Flying Apsaras and other works.
Best time to travel to Maijishan Grottoes:
Every July to October is the best time to travel to Maijishan Grottoes, among them, the scenery in summer and winter are unique. In summer, you can see green trees and beautiful flower. In winter, the snow scenery of Maiji Mountain Grottoes is very attractive.