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Longmen Caves
About eight miles south of Luoyang on
the Yi River, at a spot where high cliffs on either side
form a pass, is a caved area once known as the "Gate of
Yi River", which later became known as Longmen, or the "Dragon
Gate." Craftsmen began work on Buddhist grottoes in 494
when an emperor of the Northern Wei moved the capital from
what is now known as Datong (Shanxi Province) to Luoyang.
The artistry is therefore an extension from Datong. The
work at Longmen proceeded through seven dynasties, and in
more than 1,300 caves, there are 40 small pagodas, and almost
100,000 Buddha statues ranging in size from one inch to
57 feet. These caves and the stone sculptures they contain
rank with the caves at Yungang and Dunhuang as the great
remaining masterpieces of Buddhist culture in China.
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