Sichuan. Guangyuan City. Guanyin Rock Caves

The statues are distributed on a cliff by the river, 30 meters high and 100 meters wide, facing east and sitting west, stretching about 0.5 kilometers. They were carved from the 10th year of the Tang Tianbao period (751) to the 7th year of the Dahe period (833). Originally, there were about 130 niches, but only 108 remain today. Among them, a central pillar cave is the only statue cave. The subjects of the statues are mostly based on Shakyamuni preaching or Guanyin meditating. Inside the Buddha niches, there is a Tang Tianbao 10th year inscription "Praise of Shakyamuni Buddha Statue," which mentions "Yunnan Zhao Wei envoy Fan Yuanyi carving statues on the riverbank of Yichang County" and "Chaoyilang Dali Pingshi," suggesting that the statues were possibly made by people sent by Tang Xianyu Zhongtong during his military campaign in Yunnan.