The Yungang Grottoes are located in western outskirts of Datong, Shanxi Province. Construction began in 460, and continued for nearly half a century. On the one-km mountainside there still exist 53 grottoes with over 1,200 niches for 51,000 stone-carved statues of Buddha, of which the tallest stands 17 meters.

The eastern part of the Yungang Grottoes was built earlier than the other parts, and focused mainly on the building of pagodas, the grottoes in the middle have a front chamber and a rear chamber, with the leading statue of Buddha settled in the middle-talland robust-and the walls and ceilings of the grotoes are filled with reliefs. The western grottoes were built a litter later, most of which are medium-sized or small grottoes with a dominant number of small niches in which the statues excel in their thinnes.

Constuction of the Yungang Grottoes was mainly financed by royal families and noble families, and the imposing manner and elaborate carvings of these Buddha images incorporate the artistic styles of China, India, Persia and other countries.