Northern Liang survived as the last of the Sixteen King-
doms up to the 460s.
Northern Wei (386–534), Eastern Wei
(534–550), Western Wei (535–557), Northern
Qi (550–577), and Northern Zhou (557–581) in
the north; (Liu) Song (420–479), Southern Qi
(479–502), Liang (502–557) and Chen
(557–589) in the south; unified China under
the Sui (581/589–618)
After 439, emphasis shifted to the Northern Wei, which
developed its Buddhist art rapidly after the harsh Bud-
dhist persecution of 444 to 452. Besides numerous
stone relief images (steles) and magnificent gilt-bronze
sculptures, the most stupendous achievements oc-
curred at the cave site of YUN’GANGnear the capital of
Pingcheng (Datong) from the 460s through the 480s.
The so-called five Tanyao caves, with their five colos-
sal images carved from living rock, in some sense sur-
pass in concept even the colossi of BAMIYANand Kucha,
both of which probably had several grand colossal bud-
dha images by this time. Yun’gang presents a single co-
herent group of five colossi, the identity of which,
however, is still being debated by scholars. Work con-
tinued at Yun’gang with the fully embellished twin
caves 7 and 8, datable to around the 470s, and the twin
caves 5 and 6, dating from around the 480s, the latter
with a huge central pillar and fully assimilated new style
of loose, flared “Chinese” robe design for the buddha
images. This stylistic change, distinct from Liangzhou
or Central Asian inspired styles, probably came to the
north from South China. Caves 7 and 8 appear to be re-
lated to the sculptural traditions of the northern Silk
Road, especially that of Tumshuk.
Though work continued at Yun’gang into the fifth
century, after the Northern Wei moved its capital to
Luoyang in 494, attention turned to the new imperial
cave temple site at Longmen, which became the pièce
de résistance from the latter years of the Northern Wei.
It is by way of the groundbreaking studies of both
Yun’gang and Longmen by Seiichi Mizuno and Toshio
Nagahiro and the ongoing studies of the Dunhuang
Research Institute for the Dunhuang caves that we
have access to and understanding of these enormous
cave temple sites that represent the truly glorious her-
itage of Chinese Buddhist art.
The multiple tiers and niches of the oldest cave at
Longmen, the Guyangtong, have many individual ded-
ications and show primary focus on Maitreya. Cave 3,
on the other hand, which dates to around 515, is an
imperial cave with a single plan completely executed
to produce a coherent and spectacular scheme, prob-
ably centered around the buddhas of the three times
(past, present, and future) as the main icons. The large
impressive sculptures are massive heavy shapes be-
neath spreading robes of shallow parallel step pleats
and elaborately curving hems that flare to the sides or
cascade over the pedestal as seen in the S ́akyamuni
Buddha on the rear wall. The abstract carving of the
faces lends a strongly iconic air to the powerful imagery.
Other caves followed at Longmen and also at Gongxian
near Luoyang, but the Northern Wei collapsed around
534 or 535 and its territory was divided between east
and west for a short time before changing hands again
to the Northern Qi in the northeast and Northern Zhou
in the northwest. For Buddhist art, however, this pe-
riod remains one of continued fluorescence.
Luoyang was a city of magnificent temples and
pagodas under the Northern Wei, and, as far as we can
tell from literary records, the same was true of the cap-
ital (Nanking) of the Liang under Emperor Wu (r. 502–
549) in the south. We can surmise some of the Liang
achievements because they are probably reflected in
the Buddhist art of important finds from Chengdu in
Sichuan. The hoard of sculptures from the Wanfosi
contained many complete steles, some of which have
reliefs of Pure Land imagery that are invaluable for
documenting the developments of this form of Bud-
dhist art, which appears to have begun as early as the
early fifth century.The Xiangtangshan caves in Henan and Hebei tes-
tify to major cave temple activity under the Northern
Qi. Besides the magnificent central pillar caves at
North Xiangtangshan, a large relief of AMITABHA’s
Western Pure Land from the southern site shows a
simple setting of pavilions, a lotus pond with reborn
figures, and images of the Buddha and his attendant
bodhisattvas portrayed in the smooth, abstract, mini-
malist style of the Northern Qi. The stone sculptures
from the Xiudesi in Hebei, some with dated inscrip-
tions, the popular siwei(contemplative) bodhisattva,
and the spectacular hoard unearthed in Qingzhou in
Shandong, many still possessing gilding and original
paint, amplify the corpus of Northern Qi Buddhist art
and reveal the wide range and subtle stylistic variations
in the sculptural repertoire.Stone stelae, which rose to prominence during the
first half of the sixth century and which were frequently
donated by special groups or religious societies, gave
way in mid-century to new innovations, such as per-
forating elements of the stele, and to the independentCHINA, BUDDHISTART IN