Most of the caves at Yungang were carved between 460 and 494 AD during the Northern Wei Dynasty under the supervision of a Buddhist monk named Tan Yao (T'an-yao). They appear to have been modeled after the caves at Dunhuang (Mogao Grottoes) started one hundred years earlier, the statues here are hewn from the solid rock and are some of the oldest in China. In the book, The Image of the Buddha, the story is told how after the presecution of Buddhism by the Wei emperor, Daiwu (T'ai Wu Ti), beginning in 444 AD and lasting for five years, the next emperor was persuaded to build five collossal cave-shrines, each to contain rock-hewn images of the previous emperors. The next emperor, Wen-ch'eng-ti, continued the work, but by opening twin cave chapels, one for each parent, a trait that was continued in other capital sites, This was sometimes accompanied with a third chapel for the living ruler. The earliest work at Yungang is seen to be 'mainfestly western' in origin. This can be seen by the Persian and Byzantine weapons, lions and beards, Greek tridents and the acanthus leaves of the Mediterranean, as well as images of the Indian Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva. It is surmised that the break from this style and towards the Chinese was motivated by the appearance of the dowager queen Hu. It is during this time that the native customs and language of the Wei were being supplanted by the Chinese language and customs. Chinese styles are reflected in the form of bodhisattvas, dragons, and flying apsaras. The caves stretch for almost 1 kilometer east to west and contain over 50,000 statues. 52 caves that still remain. Although the majority are closed to the public.

Northern Wei Dynasty (466 - 494 AD)
The first caves at Yungang had enormous Buddhas in the likenesses of five Northern Wei emperors. The first Northern Wei emperor Daiwu (T'ai Wu Ti), had been declared a 'living buddha', in 416 AD for his patronage of Buddhism. That did not prevent him from later persecuting the adherents to Buddhism (644). When the Northern Wei moved their capital from Datong to Luoyang in 494 AD, work at the Yungang Grottoes fizzled out and appears to have been abandoned.

Laio Dynasty
In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Laio Dynasty saw to some repairs and restoration. Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD) More repairs to the caves were carried out during the Qing.

The caves
Caves 1 and 2 are at the eastern end. They are hollowed out at about the same time and planned in the same style, with nearly square ground plans and carved pagoda-pillars connecting floor and ceiling. The Buddhas on the walls are weather worn, but the Jataka story reliefs at the lower back part of the east wall in Cave 1 are still in relatively good condition.

Cave 3 is the largest of the Yungang caves. The face of the cliff into which it was carved is about 80 feet high. On the central upper part are 12 rectangular holes which used to hold beams and, according to legend, the building which once stood there was known as Monastery of the Enchanted Cliff. The cave is divided into front and back chambers. There is now only one Buddha statue and two Bodhisattvas in the west end of the back chamber. The faces of these images are full and smooth, the figures full-bodied. The sculptural style differs from that in all the other caves; it is of later artists of the Sui (A.D. 581-618) and Tang (A.D. 618-907).

Cave 4 has a rectangular floor plan with carved square pillar in the center. The sculptured images on the pillar and the four walls are badly worn. The only image that is still well preserved is that of a Buddha sitting cross-legged. The small adjoining cave is decorated with bas-relief carvings.

Cave 5 represents a high point in Yungang art. In front of the cave stands a four-story wooden hall, five bays wide, built in the eighth year of the Qing ruler Shun Chih (1651). The presence of the monastery building has kept the cave in good condition. The floor plan is oval. In the center is a seated 56-foot statue of the Buddha, the largest sculpted image in the Yungang caves and one of the largest in China. The surface of the statue was clay-plastered and repainted in the Tang Dynasty. The cave walls are filled with niches and images. The sides of the arched doorway feature two Buddhas seated facing each other under a bodhi (fig) tree; above are beautiful reliefs of flying apsaras.

Cave 6 is another high point in Yungang art. Fortunately the building standing in front of the entrance has protected the cave. The ground plan is nearly square. In the center stands a two-story pagoda-pillar about fifty feet high. On its sides are carved figures of the Buddha, and each of the four corners of its top has a small carved nine-story pagoda borne on an elephant. The walls are full of carved images of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Lohans (Arhats), and flying apsaras. The ceiling carvings are show the 33 devas in the Indra heaven and all kinds of mounts and carriages. Especially remarkable is the Jataka, or life story, of Shakyamuni Buddha, from his birth to his attainment of Buddhahood, carved on the middle and lower parts of the east, south and west walls as well as on the four sides of the pagoda-pillar.

Cave 7 has a three story wooden awning forming a facade. In the center of the main wall of the back chamber is carved a Bodhisattva on a lion seat. The other three walls are full of niches and images. The six Worshipping Bodhisattvas carved above the south-wall doorway are especially fine examples, as are the flying apsaras carved on the ceiling, each soaring around a lotus-blossom motif.

Cave 8, a twin of Cave 7, was hollowed out in the same period. The statues on the four walls are badly worn. At the entrance there is a statue of Vishnu (Kumaradeva) with five heads and six arms, riding on a peacock. On the east reveal is a statue of Siva (Mahasvara) with three heads and eight arms riding on a bull. These motifs are rather rare in the Yungang caves.

Cave 9 also has a front and back chamber. The pillars on both sides of the doorway of the front chamber are carved in an octagonal form. The upper parts of the east and west walls, as well as the space over the back-chamber doorway, are carved to resemble wooden houses. The other walls are full of niches with images of musicians (Gandharva Devas), dancers, and intertwining scroll-and-leaf designs.

Cave 10 was hollowed out in the same period of time as Cave 9 and also consists of front and back chambers. There are fine carved patterns on the outside and inside of the doorway arch of the back chamber. The statue of the Buddha in the center is a poor clay image made during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Cave 11 has a square pagoda-pillar in its center reaching to the roof. On its four sides are carved images of Buddha, but the addition of painted clay figures in later ages has practically obliterated the original ones. The Bodhisattvas in the front are, however, well preserved. The other walls are filled with niches and images of 1,000 Buddhas. On the upper part of the southern end of the east wall is carved with an inscription giving the date of the statues-the seventh year of Tai Ho (A.D. 483).

Cave 12 is also divided into two chambers. The east and west walls of the front chamber each have a niche in the form of a building with three bays in imitation of wooden houses. Within the niches are statues. The top part of the main wall is decorated with a carved bank of celestial musicians holding different musical instruments. The statues in the back chamber are mostly clay figures or original images painted over in later ages.

Cave 13 has in its center a statue of the Buddha sitting cross-legged, about 42-foot high. Between his right arm and leg stands a four-armed vajra, the sole example of this form in Yungang. Above the doorway arch on the south wall are the sculpted figures of seven Buddhas, very lively in expression. The shrine on the east wall is finely carved and decorated.

Cave 14's front crumbled long ago, and most of the statues are badly worn. Only on the upper part of the west wall are there still some images in relief. On the east wall stands a pillar with round base and square shaft.

Cave 15 is nearly square. The front wall has niches and statues. On the other walls there are more than 10,000 tiny seated Buddhas neatly arranged in rows, hence the name of Cave of Ten Thousand Buddhas.

Cave 16 is one of the Five Caves of Tan Yao, the earliest to be built. Its floor plan is oval, and in the center is a giant Buddha standing on a lotus throne. On the walls are 1,000 Buddhas and niches. The style of the cave is different than that of the rock temples of India and also from the style of the caves which evolved at Yungang; in effect, it takes the form of an enlarged niche to protect the one central statue.

Cave 17 has an oval floor plan. In the center a giant cross-legged Buddha sits on a throne. A seated Buddha in a niche is carved on the east wall and a standing Buddha on the west wall. The ground level of the cave is lower than that outside. An inscription gives its date as 480. The giant Buddha and the smaller seated and standing Buddha on either side give an impression of strength and firmness and are executed in a style different from other caves in the group.

Cave 18 also has an oval floor plan. In the center stands a 50-foot Buddha, wearing a garment decorated with a thousand Buddhas and baring his right arm. On the upper part of the east wall is a skillfully carved statue of a Bodhisattva carrying a vase containing holy water. This and the other three Bodhisattvas are considered masterpieces of Chinese Buddhist art.

Cave 19 has in its center one of the largest Buddha statues (55 feet high) in Yungang. Outside there are two little adjunct caves hollowed out of the east and west sides. The central Buddha and sculptures on the right-hand side wall are rather severe in style, in contrast with those on the left-hand wall, which seem to point the way to the style eventually developed at Longmen when the court of the emperor was transferred to Luoyang.

Cave 20's front also has crumbled, and the 35-foot Buddha can be seen from afar. It is still relatively well preserved from the chest up. The face is full and round, with an expression of firmness and vitality; the mouth is large, the nose protruding, and the ears enormous. The Buddha has been carved in the seated position, hands in his lap. The shoulders are immense, their width being two-thirds of the height of the seated figure. The legs are in a poor state of preservation. The statue is probably the best known outside of China; it is the most photographed of those at the site.

Cave 21 contains sculpture of a later period, possibly dating from the end of the Northern Wei. A five-story pagoda stands in the middle, each facet containing niches with Bodhisattvas within.