Maiji Grottoes [Tianshui]

The Maiji Grottoes, as one of the four large grotto groups in China, are located in Maiji Mountain (mountain in the form of wheat stack), 45 kilometers southeast of Tianshui City, Gansu Province. The scenic spots of Maiji Mountain are located at the eastern segment of the northern branch of western Qinling Mountains, with a total area of 215 square kilometers, including the four grand scenic spots (Maiji Mountain, Xianren Cliff, Stone Gate and Quxi River) and the Jieting Ancient Town. Among them, the Maiji Grottoes are the most famous.

The art of the Maiji Grottoes, as reputed as the Grand Exhibition Hall of Statues, is famous in the world for its fine clay sculpture art. If the Dunhuang is a great hall of frescos, Maiji Mountain is a great hall of statues. Among the statutes here, the big ones can be up to more than 15 meters in height and the small ones are only 20 more centimeters in height. These statutes show the statue characters of various ages for more than 1,000 years and systematically reflect the development and evolution process of Chinese clay sculpture art. The clay sculptures here can be approximately divided into the following four types: (i) high-relief pieces extruding from the wall space, (ii) round carvings fully separated from the wall space, (iii) molding statutes pasted on the wall and (iv) wall carvings. Among them, thousands of human-size round carvings are full of life sentiment and are regarded as treasures accordingly.

Many grottoes of Maiji Mountain were built as Cliff Pavilions. The Qifo Pavilion (seven-Buddha pavilion) on steep precipice 15 meters above the Grand Clay Buddha statue on the eastern cliff is the typical cliff pavilion style of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). It was first cut in the mid 6th century and is more than 50 meters above the ground. Though most statutes of the Maiji Grottoes are made of clay, a considerable number of the grottoes are the stone carvings and frescoes. The resort of the Maiji Grottoes is ranked as the cultural relics site under the national protection, and the overhanging plank road of 1,300 meters long is newly constructed and repaired, so tourists can easily visit all the grottoes.