Maiji Mountain is about 45km southeast of Tianshui City, Gansu Province. Although the mountain is only 142 meters tall, it is shaped like a haystack so it gets its name for the Chinese word for haystack, maiji. The excavation of Maiji Mountain started during the Sixteen Kingdoms Period (after 386) and continued through the Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, the Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. More than 7,000 clay Buddhist statues and stone carvings were done over 1,500 years. The stone here is similar to that of Dunhuang, which is difficult to carve. Therefore, many works are painted clay sculptures. Stone carvings here required stone from elsewhere. The clay sculptures are only popular in China because they can be preserved for more than a thousand years after firing. The sculptural style found in the Maijishan grottoes has an obvious tendency towards the unreligious. Except for the Ghandaran style in the early works, most Buddha images are amiably bowing their head. Han Dynasty characteristics are visible in the figures and clothes of the statues. The Buddha and Boddhisattva images are beautiful and display kind smiles. Their clothes don’t display the restrictions of Buddhist rites. The earlier clay sculptures in the Maijishan grottoes are more changeable and skillful; they are more simple and elegant and better suit the aesthetic values of Chinese people.
The Buddha and Boddhisattva images from the Northern Dynasties are elegant and pretty， while the Buddha’s warrior attendants are strong and powerful. Two warrior attendants in the No. 122 Cave are outstanding works. One has his hair bristled up in anger. Another is awful and contrasts clearly with the images of Buddha and Boddhisattva, another universal rule of the sculptures of the grottoes.
Due to the long time they took to construct, the Buddha images of Maijishan show various changes. No.13 Grotto is the most eye-catching cliff-side image, at the center of eastern cliff. The main Buddha statue is more than 15 meters high and is made of clay. The Buddha is dignified. It has two ears and one Boddhisattva at either side. The facial expressions of the bodhisattvas are vivid but short. No. 4 Grotto, also known as Sanhualou or Shangqi Buddha Pavilion, is the highest, largest and the most beautiful grotto of the Maijishan. The grotto was built at the highest layer of the east cliff of Maiji Mountain in the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557–581). It was rebuilt in the Sui, Tang, Song and Ming dynasties.
No.165 Grotto is famous for its sculptures in the style of the Song Dynasty. The extant sculptures were constructed during the Northern Song. The bodhisattva statue sits on the throne cross-legged with one attendant on each side. These bodhisattva statues and attendants have round faces with long bended eyebrows, narrow eyes, small and delicate mouths and dignified appearances. The muscles on the face are full of a sense of trueness. The hairline on the attendants is extremely thin. The skin is finely textured and the drapery is refined and skillful. This could be considered the classical work of the Song Dynasty.
As a whole, the Maijishan Grottoes are elegant, simple and closer to reality than the Dunhuang grottoes. Many bodhisattva images look like the young girls from the northwest, kindly and joyful. Some statues reflect the humane ideology of Confucius.
Yungang Grotto images
The Yungang Grottoes punctuate the north cliff of Wuzhou Mountain, Datong City, Shanxi Province. The area was excavated along 1km from east to west and includes 53 caves and over 51,000 stone statues.
Started during the Northern Wei Dynasty (460–470), the famous monk Tan Yao created the Tanyao Five Grottos (Caves 16–20). Other caves were built after the 18th year (494) of the Taihe reign of the Northern Wei, more than 1,500 years ago. The caves can be divided into early, middle and late caves based on when they were cut.
The early Five Caves are full of power and grandeur. They are dignified and simple in the style of Xiyu, a western region in ancient China.
The grottoes from the middle period are delicate and gorgeous, complicated and changeable with Chinese characteristics. The sculpting of the faces and clothes of the Buddha has a tendency towards realism. The typical dress of “loose clothes and broad strap” appeared and became popular in the central plains of China. The Buddha image is smaller and is more amiable. These practices in sculpture better suit the characteristics of Chinese culture.