The Grottos on Xiangtang Mountain lie
on the Drum Mountain in the Fengfeng mining area in Handan City, Heibei
Province.
The caves in Xiangtang
Mountain are very deep, and the mountain is so named because the stones there
are so solid and delicate that they will give out rhythmic sound when one whisks
it with his/her sleeves. During the reign of Emperor Wenxuan in the Northern Qi
Dynasty (550-577), he set the capital in Ye (today's Linzhang) and Jinyang
(today's Taiyuan City) successively. Therefore Emperor Wenxuan often came and
went between the two capitals, where Xiangtang Mountain became the place he had
to pass through. Because of the bright mountains and limpid waters, the emperor
vigorously had people built palaces, chiseled grottos and constructed temples.
For a time this place became prosperous. Later, through the continuous repairs
and enlargements of the past dynasties such as the Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan and
Ming dynasties, the grottos became the biggest one with the longest history in
Heibei Province. Now there are 16 extant well-preserved caves, more than 3,400
statues, respectively distributed at the south and middle foots of the Drum
Mountain, which are called the Southern Grottos and the Northern Grottos, with a
distance of 15 kilometers between them.
The grottos on the
Southern Xiangtang Mountain are chiseled along the mountain. At the southern
foot of the mountain stands the Xiangtang Temple. The extant main hall, side
hall, storied buildings along the mountain, brick pagodas, and houses for monks
were all constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Behind the temple there
are seven big and small grottos along the mountains, divided into two floors,
five grottos on the upper floor, and two on the lower floor. Among them, the
largest one, called the Huayan Grotto, is 6.3 meters wide, inside which the
statues of Buddha of various shapes and postures are graceful and elegant. There
are 1,028 statues in the One-Thousand Cave, on the top of which are the
basso-relievos of flying Apsaras, looking very pretty and charming, with the
girdles fluttering in the air. Some of them are playing Pipa (a plucked string
instrument with a fretted fingerboard), while some are playing the Sheng (a reed
pipe wind instrument)
The grottos on the
Southern Xiangtang Mountain are on the steep cliffs, and there are altogether
nine statues in three groups: the southern, northern and middle. The middle
group appears like pavilions, inside which there are many basso-relievos of
flowers, animals, statues of Buddha, which are simple and elegant. The largest
one, called the Big Buddha Cave, is 13.3 meters wide and 12.5 meters deep.
Inside, there is a statue of sitting Buddha of about 4 meters high, which is
graceful and dignified, with well-rounded muscles and soft lines, and no
ornaments on the face. Though exposed to the elements for more than one thousand
years, the statue of Buddha still appears bright and clean as if it were new.
The inner and outer walls of the Sutra Carving Cave are carved with scriptures
all over. In front of the mountain there used to be a temple called the Changle
Temple, but now only an octagonal nine-storeyed brick pagoda stands there,
becoming the important symbol of the grottos. On the top of Xiangtang Mountain
there are some precious cultural relics preserved such as the Eastern Palace,
the Western Palace, stone pillars inscribed with Buddhist scriptures of the Song
and Jin dynasties, tablet engravings and so on.