Brief Introduction: The scenic area of Majishan grottoes is located 45 kilometers southeast ofTianshui  City, the northern foot of the western section of the Qinling Mountains. Maiji Mountain Grottoes is an important scenic spot in Maiji Mountain Scenic and Historic Interest Area. It is a national 5A class tourist attraction. It is named because the shape of the mountain resembles the shape of a wheat stack. Maijishan Grottoes is one of the four famous grottoes in China, known as the"Oriental Sculpture Hall". The other three grottoes are Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang ,Yungang Grottoes in Datong and Mogao Grottoesin Dunhuang. On June 22, 2014, at the 38th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Doha, Qatar,Maijishan Grottoes was successfully included in the World Heritage List as one of the sites on the "Silk Road of Changan - Tianshan Corridor Network", a joint application of China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The grottoes and niches are cut into vertical cliff which is 20-80 meters high and 200 meters wide. A striking feature of the Maijishan Grottoes is that the caves are located in an extremely dangerous location. Most of the caves are cut into the cliffs, and the caves are all accessible by plank road set up in the cliff. As climbing on these winding plank road, visitors normally can not help being thrilling. A proverb is still spread in locals that finish cutting all of firewood in Nanshan mountain , then Maiji grottoes were built up. Because they need cut the wood to build something like scaffold for safety before they cut the grottoes. It can be seen that the excavation of caves and the construction of the plank road project are really huge. At beginning Maijishan Grottoes was founded in the Late Qin(384―417AD) Period of the Sixteen States. It has gone through the Western Qin Dynasty, Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern Zhou Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and lasted more than 1,600 years, and has been excavated and repaired continuously. Because of the great earthquake occurred in 734 AD of Tang Dynasty , the central cliff collapsed, and then the cliff was naturally divided into two parts for east cliff and west cliff.There are totally 194 caves and niches in existence, including 54 caves in the Middle East Cliff and 140 caves in the West Cliff. There are more than 7,800 clay sculptures ,stone statues and murals of more than 1,000 square meters. The largest statue is Dongya Buddha, which is 15.8 meters high. The caves are connected by the walkway, and the interior and exterior of the caves are mostly imitation wood structures. .

Nirvana Grottoes, one thousand Buddhas Corridor, the seven Buddha Pavilion on the sanhua (scattering flower) buliding are the most exquisite among the grottoes in the east cliff. In front of Nirvana Grottoes are four stone pillars with lotus petal-shaped reliefs on their caps. Instead of the brackets on the top of the columns, the embossed "flame jewels" are used. The design is very ingenious. This cliff pavilion was built in the late period of theNorthern Wei Dynasty, and it is a treasure of grotto temples' architecture. The One Thousand Buddha Corridor is 32 meters long. On the cliff, there are 258 statues lined in two layers, which are carved from stone inside and plastered with clay outside. All of them look so different and vivid.

The most valuable caves, such as the hall of ten thousand Buddhas (wanfotang), grotto of heaven(tiantang dong),Cave 121,Cave 123, Cave 127, Cave 165, were built on the west cliff. Ten thousand Buddhas hall is also called "monument cave ". Crossing the door, a 3.5-meter-high Buddha will be seen firstly, with his eyes slightly closed and his hands making the gesture of connecting and leading. In the grotto and niches there are many exquisitely made statues of Maitreyas and donators, the number of which is over 30. The grotto of heaven is the highest grotto on the two cliffs, full of large stone statues. In the middle one is 1.95 meters high, and the two on the left and right of middle one are 1.28 meters high, one of which weighs about two or three tons.

The statues of Maijishan grottoes include two distinct characteristics which are the strong national consciousness and the secular tendency. With the exception of the early works, almost all the Buddha statues starting from the Northern Wei dynasty have the posture of bowing and looking down and have amiable facial expression. Although the statues play the role of  the God in heaven, they look like the mundane people, becoming the embodiment of people's good wishes. From the figure and dress of the statues, it is gradually getting rid of the influence of  art from the west, reflecting the characteristics of the Han nationality.

The Level: the World Heritage & 5Ascenic spot

Admission Fee: 90 yuan/person, Shuttlebus:15yuan/person

Selling Tickets Time: 8:30a.m.—3:00p.m.

Opening Time: 8:30a.m.—5:30 p.m.(insummer), 9:30a.m.—4:30p.m.(in winter)

Visiting Time: 1-3 hours

Travel Tips:

1, Since September 16,2018,the real-name ticket system has been implemented to control the carryingcapacity of 6,400 tourists in a single day at the Maiji Mountain Grottoes. Soplease do the proper reservation in advance;

2, When visiting Maijishan Grottoes, pleasepay attention to the protection of the murals and statues, you can takepictures but do not use flash;

3, Please follow this principle that don'twalk while taking pictures and don't take photos while walking.

4, After entering the core area of thegrottoes,please put all the external items such as water bottles, keys andmobile phones into the bag, or deposit them at the storage place to avoid theitems falling and hurting others;

5, After you get off the shuttle bus ,youstill need walk around 10-15 minutes to the entrance of grottoes;

6. Tourists with a history of heartdisease,hypertension and acrophobia should make reasonable arrangementsaccording to their own conditions

7,It is suggested that those who sufferfrom heart disease, hypertension, fear of heights and other diseases and arenot suitable to climb the trestle path of the grottoes should buy a ticket of25 yuan (excluding visiting the grottoes)

8, Because the grottos are all built in thecliff of 20-80 m high, so you need climb up the stairs to visit all ofgrottos,which present many zigzags. Normally start climbing from the eastcliff, and finish going down from the west cliff. But if anyone is afraid ofheights, do not suggest you climb too much. You may climb up the stairs aspossible as you can, then you may choose the same way to go back. Moststairs are very steep and narrow,so should be careful very much. If it is thepeak season, many people are going to climb continuously, it is more difficultto go back along the same way. You probably need keep going down from the westcliff;

9, In case of snow and rain, the scenicspot will not open .

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