001 Grottoes Xiangtangshan Grottoes The Xiangtangshan Grottoes lie at the northern and southern ends of Mount Gu in Fengfeng Mining District, Handan—two sets of mortuary caves carved by the imperial family and powerful ministers of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi. The Zizhi Tongjian records that Gao Huan was secretly interred beside the Buddha's head in the great cave at North Xiangtangshan; the Xu Gaoseng Zhuan states that the great cave image backs onto the tomb of Emperor Wenxuan. South Xiangtangshan, according to the Stele of the Fushan Grottoes, was opened in the first year of Tiantong by the monk Huiyi and Prince Gao Anahong of Huaiyin. Eastern Wei Fengfeng Mining District, Handan, Hebei Province Xiangtangshan Grottoes · Xiangtang Temple Grottoes · Grottoes →
002 Architecture The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple stand below the Cang Mountains northwest of Dali Old Town, Yunnan. The main tower, the Qianxun Pagoda, is a square, closely-eaved pagoda of sixteen tiers. According to the Yunnan Tongzhi, an inscription atop the pagoda dates it to the first year of Kaiyuan of the Tang (713 CE), built by the Tang artisans Gong Tao and Hui Yi at the Nanzhao kingdom’s invitation. Two smaller pagodas flank it to the north and south, “each topped with a cast-gold finial bearing a golden roc.” Tradition holds that “dragons revere pagodas but fear the roc; Dali was once a dragon marsh, hence these were built to subdue it.” Nanzhao Dali, Yunnan Buddhist Architecture · Ancient Pagoda · Nanzhao →