China, Datong - YUNGANG Grottoes - photos of spectacular views in Shanxi Province on Worldisround

China, Datong - YUNGANG Grottoes

by STAN.

I think this place is spectacular. Usually ,I dont like to take photos of Buddha statue but these magnificant huge buddha crafted inside the cave are beyond my imagination. Photos taking are not allowed for some of the most beautifully preserved crafted Buddha and statues in some of the caves . What you see here are only those outside of the caves and those destroyed.

Enjoy this trip with me!!

copyrighted photos (Photos by Gaojun)

Morning
I reached Yungang in the morning at about 0830am. It is great to start...

Gate
Ticket office not open yet.. so this place is still very quiet without crowd.

Introduction
Here is the introduction of Yungang.. Enlarge it to read it either in...

Buddha
You can see different lightings coz only the head of the statues is expose to...

Statues

Front view

Penetrating light
Here you can see the light penetrating through the cave on the upper level.....

Colorful
Enlarge to see this beautiful and colorful craftwork of Ancient!!!

Roof
Beautiful stones craftmanship on the roof

Grottoes

Head
Here, u can see that the head of the statue is actually crafted from a...

Wall
At the side of the wall.. you can see small scuplture also.

Different smile
Destroyed by pollution(coal) but still look great.

Craftmanship
Look at this, isnt it really grand??

Outside
Statues outside the caves

Next
Statues next to one another

Huge
Looking at those people at the right corner.. you can imagine how huge these...

East
Walking toward the East end of grottoes.

Hidden.
Enlarge to see the hidden Buddha head in the center. Wow,maybe it is too hot..

View
Here is how it looks before you enter into the grottoes.

article published 7/29/2002

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Enjoyed your virtual tour
There is just so much in China I have yet to see. i really do look forward to going back! Thanks for sharing your wonnderful pictures and commentary. =) James
— James Bierman, September 8, 2002

G.A.O.......Great Amazing Original
One more time, I'am satisfied to contemplate the world, sat in front of my PC, due to your magnificent large photos of a big quality. Thanks Gao
— GUY POUJADE, August 26, 2002

Great album
Gao, this is a very enjoyable trip around your country. I do appreciate your giving us the opportunity for enjoying it. Your phototgraphic skills are outstanding. Your camera must be happy to be handled by such an able photographer... Regards from Madrid in Spain.
— Alberto Conde, August 20, 2002

Amazing Place
Of course I would like to ask the same question as before somebody did: how it was possible that these treasures survived destruction of Cultural Revolution? Excellent presentation GaoJun! Warm regards, Rafal
— Rafal K Komierowski, August 17, 2002

What an amazing place ! It gives so much to think when we imagine that this kind of work arts has been here for millenaries and saw so much of historical events; in those moments, we feel so small... You were right to take those buddhas into picture because there is certainly no similar representations of Buddha somewhere else in the World.
— Free man, August 8, 2002

Some people think immediatly the negative way, like Tonyt.Is it not possible that you dont like to make photo's of Budha statues out of respect,or a religious point of view?
— Dirk Wittebrouck, August 1, 2002

Buddha statues
you don't like buddhist statues... Ouuuh! {#_#}... so sad to hear it espeacially from you! By the way, your photos are excellent that make me give you a credit for it.
— tonyt, August 1, 2002

Great pics
Thx for sharing those wonderful pics! You are a very big photographer! greetings Ann & Geert
— Geert65, July 31, 2002

Very impressive. I wonder how this cave managed to escape the idiotic wave of destruction that was carried out during the Cultural Revolution? Was it saved by the intervention of Chou? It would be interesting to know.
— Art Lover, July 29, 2002

yes!!
This are great photos!!You must have a good camera!Greetings Truus.
— Truus Stotteler, July 29, 2002

As always very nice and good pix, love to see it myself one day.
— Danny, July 29, 2002

Thank you! I long to return to Datong one of these years to revisit the caves. When I visited the caves in 1983 I had a borrowed camera that was not operating very well. I hope you do not mind if I copied some of your photos. I promise not to sell them!
— gung gung, July 29, 2002