Day Tour: Incredible Ancient Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing

Meet your guide at the lobby of your hotel in Chongqing city centre and be driven to the Dazu Stone Carvings around 8:30am, located 104 miles (167 kilometers) away from Chongqing city.

The first of the carvings were created here in the late Tang Dynasty, reaching an artistic peak in the Song Dynasty. All together, there are over 60,000 statues to be seen in 40 different locations all throughout Dazu County. The statues on Mount Baoding and Mount Longgan are the most centralized and have the largest collection of them. In 1999 this area was listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

About 11 miles (14 kilometers) away from Dazu County, the stone carvings on Mount Baoding were created between 1179 and 1249 under the reigns of Emperor Chunxi and Chunyou in the Southern Song Dynasty. The area was under the supervision of Zhao Zhifeng, who was born close by and became a monk at the age of five. He studied Buddhism in southern China’s Sichuan province when he was 16. After he returned home, he had this site built and carved. He had a large following until he passed away at the age of 90, when many statues were almost completed. The Buddha Bay we see today mostly consists of statues that he ordered to be carved.

There are a few similarities between the statues here and at different locations. Moreover, the statues are each in connection with each other and are each in accordance with the Buddhist doctrine.Once the tour to the rock carvings finish, we will drive you back to Chongqing city to drop you off at your hotel in the city centre around 4:30pm