Then why are Longyou Grottoes in such uniformed shapes with fluent and fine decorations? It doesn't seem to be quite possible for the ancient stonemasons to have had the leisurely and carefree mood to beautify the useless caves after a hard day of labor.

Jia Gang, a professor at Tongji Unversity specializing in underground structural mechanics and construction organization, does not agree with the quarry theory.

"For me personally, I don't think it is possible for a quarry to have such delicate and fine carvings. The other problem is that if these grottoes were quarries, why didn't they dig it up from the side? Because to dig it the vertical way is definitely much harder both in the sense of transportation and labor."

Even vice professor Zhou Shaoxiong, who holds the view of quarries, cannot explain these questions, especially the unique horizontal grains.

(Author: Jeff)

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