World Heritage Identification Number: 912
World Heritage since: 1999
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇨🇳 China
Continent: Asia
UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific
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Exploring the Dazu Rock Carvings: A Testament to Ancient Chinese Culture
The Dazu Rock Carvings, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, offer a unique glimpse into the rich cultural heritage of ancient China. Located in the Dazu District of Chongqing, these rock carvings date back as far as the 7th century, providing a testament to the harmonious synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism during this period.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The steep hillsides of the Dazu area contain an exceptional series of rock carvings dating from the 9th to the 13th century. They are remarkable for their aesthetic quality, their rich diversity of subject matter, both secular and religious, and the light that they shed on everyday life in China during this period. They provide outstanding evidence of the harmonious synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (i): The Dazu carvings represent the pinnacle of Chinese rock art for their high aesthetic quality and their diversity of style and subject matter.
Criterion (ii): Tantric Buddhism from India and the Chinese Taoist and Confucian beliefs came together at Dazu to create a highly original and influential manifestation of spiritual harmony.
Criterion (iii): The eclectic nature of religious belief in later Imperial China is given material expression in the exceptional artistic heritage of the Dazu rock art.
Encyclopedia Record: Dazu Rock Carvings
The Dazu Rock Carvings are a series of Chinese religious sculptures and carvings and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Dazu District, Chongqing, China. The carvings date back as far as the 7th century AD, depicting and influenced by Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist beliefs. Some are in rock-cut cave shrines, in the usual Chinese Buddhist style, but many others are rock reliefs carved into the open rock faces. Listed as a World Heritage Site in 1999, the Dazu Rock Carvings are made up of 75 protected sites containing some 50,000 statues, with over 100,000 Chinese characters forming inscriptions and epigraphs. The sites are located in Chongqing Municipality within the steep hillsides throughout Dazu District, located about 165 kilometers west of the urban area of Chongqing. The highlights of the rock grotto are found on Mount Baoding and Mount Beishan.Additional Site Details
Area: 20.41 hectares
(ii) — Significant interchange of human values
(iii) — Unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition
Coordinates: 29.70111 , 105.705
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© Gisling, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
