The grotto art of Dazu County,160km north-west of Chongqing, is rated alongside China's other great Buddhist cave sculpture at Dunhunag, Luoyang and Datong. Historical records for Dazu are sketchy. The cliff carvings and statues(with Buddhisit, Taoist and Confucian influences)amount to thousands of pieces, large and small, scattered over the county in some 40-odd places. The main groupings are at Beishan (North Hill) and the more interesting Baoding. They date from the Tang Dynasty (9th century) to the Song (13th century).

The town of Dazu is a small, unhurried place. It's also been relatively unvisited by Westerners-though this is gradually changing and the surrounding countryside is superb.

Beishan

Beishan is about a 30-minute hike from Dazu town-aim straight for the pogoda visible from the bus station. There are goodoverall views from the top of the hill. The dark niches hold small statues, many in poor condition; only one or two really stand out.

Niche No136 depicts Puxian, the patron saint (male) of Emeishan, riding a white elephant. The same niche has the androgynous Sun and moon Guanyin. Niche 155 holds a bit more talent, the Peacock King. According to inscriptions, the Beishan site was originally a military camp, with the earliest carvings commissioned by a general.

Baoding

Fifteen km north-east of Dazu town, the Baoding sculptures are definitely more interesting than those at Beishan. The founding work is attributed to Zhao Zhifeng, a monk from an obscure Yoga sect of Tantric Buddhism. There's a monastery with nice wood-work and throngs of pilgrims. On the lower section of the hill on which the monastery sits is a horseshoe-shaped cliff sculptured with coloured figures, some of them up to eight metres high. The centrepiece is a 31-metre-long, five-metre-high reclining buddha, torso sunk into the cliff face-most peaceful.

Staues around the rest of the 125-metre horseshoe vary considerably: Buddhist preachers and sages, historical figures, realistic scenes(on the rear of a postcard one is described as "pastureland-Cowboy at Rest')and delicate sculptures a few cm in height. Some of them have lost layers of paint, but generally there is a remarkable survival rate (fanatical Red Guards did descend on the Dazu area bent on defacing the sculptures, but were stopped-so the story goes-by an urhent order from Zhou Enlai).

Baoding differs from other grottoes in that it was based on a preconceived plan which incorporated some of the area's natural features - a sculpture next to the reclining buddha, for example, makes use ofan underground spring. Completion of the sculptures is believed to have taken 70 years, between 1179 and 1249 AD. It's easy to spend a few hours wandering around this area. Show-pieces are the enormous reclining buddha and, inside a small temple on the carved cliff, the doddess of mercy, with a spectacular gilt forest of fingers (1007 hands if you care to check). Each hand has an eye, the symbol of wisdom. But besides the major attractions there are countless minor details that will capture your attention.