Shiziguan Grottoes

Shiziguan Grottoes

In Jianchuan, Northwest Yunnan, there is a stone mountain. It's strange to say that stone is precious, but in fact, it's very mysterious. This is not only because there are various kinds of strange rocks in the mountain, each showing its own wonderful, but also because there are artistic treasures of Nanzhao in the mountain: 17 Grottoes with fine carving, vivid image, unique content and rich local ethnic color. These caves are distributed in Shizhong temple, Shiziguan and shadengqing of Shibaoshan, stretching for six to seven kilometers, with about 140 statues. According to the content of life, it mainly includes the following aspects:

The first is the historical picture of Nanzhao. The first cave of Shiziguan and the first and second caves of Shizhong Temple respectively depict the images of three dynasties of Nanzhao kings. Nanzhao, a local regime that had a great influence on the southwest frontier, started from weaving logic in detail, ploughing Weishan, and working hard with the support of the Tang Dynasty; it was obvious that GE Luofeng united with Tucao to break the Tang army in the Xi'er River; it flourished in Yimou Xun and returned to the Tang Dynasty to expand its territory. The author of the grottoes carefully selected the emperors of the three dynasties and gave artistic expression to the history of Nanzhao.

The statue of the whole family of sinuro is in Shiziguan on the hillside opposite Shizhong temple. There are strange stones standing like pineapples. Some stone peaks rise from the ground, and the top is like a stone plate, on which there seem to be stone lilies in bud. The mountain road is steep and narrow, and only one person can get through. There are two stones beside, which are frog like. Their heads are facing each other, and they seem to be singing relatively low. Dozens of steps to the right side of Shiziguan pass, a huge tongue shaped stone is seen, and a statue of the whole family of Nanzhao king is carved below. The cave is square, about 5 feet high and 4 feet wide, with simple steps and stone railings carved in front of it. The lower skin of the cave is a stone platform, on which five seated figures are carved. The left end is the king, and the right end is the princess. They sat with arms folded. They were dignified, full-bodied, strong and powerful, with the unique rustic demeanor of the mountain people. In the middle and left and right of the king and the imperial concubine, there were two boys and one girl. There is a man and a woman at each end of the stone seat. The maid holds a fan and the man holds a pen. The interior furnishings are simple and close to the historical reality. On the middle wall behind the shoulder of the princess, there is an inscription: "the king of the great sage Rhododendron and his concubines, men and women, etc. are respected. The statue was changed in Yuan Dynasty and recorded in Changning." "Huanluokou", which is suspected to be duluoxiao, is the first generation of Nanzhao. Later, Nanzhao unified the Erhai area, and xinuluo was regarded as the "master". Today, there are still statues in the mountain patrolling Hall of Weibaoshan. In Muping village, Jianchuan, northeast of Shizhong temple, the people also call the statues of the king and the imperial concubine in this cave their "masters". The layout of the statues in this cave is also similar to the composition of the local folk statues.

Address: Shibaoshan, Jianchuan County, Yunnan Province

Longitude: 99.8476803394

Latitude: 26.393137587955