Our answer
Four mountains, four grottoes, one giant 四大佛教名山
Six of the sites on this page are UNESCO World Heritage sites, listed between 1987 and 2009
The short answer
China’s great Buddhist sacred sites are the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains (Wutai, Emei, Putuo and Jiuhua, each the home of a bodhisattva) and the carved cave temples of Mogao, Longmen, Yungang and Dazu. The 71-metre Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan is the largest stone Buddha in the world.
| In Chinese | 四大佛教名山 (sì dà fójiào míngshān), the Four Famous Buddhist Mountains |
|---|---|
| The four mountains | Wutai (Shanxi), Emei (Sichuan), Putuo (Zhejiang), Jiuhua (Anhui) |
| The great grottoes | Mogao (Gansu), Longmen (Henan), Yungang (Shanxi), Dazu (Chongqing) |
| Largest stone Buddha | Leshan Giant Buddha, Sichuan: 71 m |
| Tallest Buddha statue in China | Spring Temple Buddha, Henan: 128 m including its lotus throne |
| UNESCO listings | Mogao 1987, Emei and Leshan 1996, Dazu 1999, Longmen 2000, Yungang 2001, Wutai 2009 |
The Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains
Each mountain is regarded as the bodhimanda, the place of enlightenment or earthly seat, of one great bodhisattva.[1][2][5][9][10]
| Mountain | Province | Bodhisattva | Highest point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Wutai (五台山, Wǔtái Shān) | Shanxi | Manjushri (文殊, Wénshū), wisdom | 3,061 m (north peak) |
| Mount Emei (峨眉山, Éméi Shān) | Sichuan | Samantabhadra (普贤, Pǔxián) | 3,099 m |
| Mount Putuo (普陀山, Pǔtuó Shān) | Zhejiang | Guanyin (观音), compassion | 284 m |
| Mount Jiuhua (九华山, Jiǔhuá Shān) | Anhui | Ksitigarbha (地藏, Dìzàng) | 1,341 m |
What each mountain is like
Mount Wutai is seen as the world centre of devotion to Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, and has more than 50 monasteries. It also keeps two of China’s oldest surviving wooden buildings: the main hall of Nanchan Temple, built in 782, and the East Hall of Foguang Temple, from 857. UNESCO listed it in 2009.
Mount Emei is the seat of Samantabhadra (Puxian). UNESCO dates the first Buddhist temple on its summit to the 1st century CE, and the mountain has 76 Buddhist monasteries of the Ming and Qing dynasties, most near the top. It was listed together with the Leshan Giant Buddha in 1996.
Mount Putuo is not a peak inland but an island of about 12.5 square kilometres off Zhoushan in the East China Sea. Sacred to Guanyin, it became a centre of her worship after the Tang dynasty; its three traditional great temples are Puji, Fayu and Huiji, and today it has more than 30 major temples. See our guide to Guanyin.
Mount Jiuhua, in Chizhou, Anhui, is the seat of Ksitigarbha (Dizang), the bodhisattva who vows to help beings in the hell realms. Tradition links it to Kim Qiaoque, a prince-monk from the Korean kingdom of Silla who arrived in 719 and whom the mountain’s monks regarded as an incarnation of Dizang. At its height in the Ming and Qing dynasties it had as many as 360 temples. Read more about these figures in Buddhist gods and bodhisattvas.[2][5][6][7][8][9][10]
The great Buddhist grottoes
Cave temples cut into cliffs and filled with carved and painted Buddhas. All four are UNESCO World Heritage sites.[1][11][12][13][14][15]
| Site | Where | What you see | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mogao Caves (莫高窟), Dunhuang | Gansu | 492 caves with about 45,000 m² of murals and more than 2,000 painted sculptures; begun in 366, spanning the 4th to 14th centuries | 1987 |
| Longmen Grottoes (龙门石窟), Luoyang | Henan | More than 2,300 caves and niches and almost 110,000 stone statues along the Yi River, mostly from the late 5th to mid-8th centuries; the great Vairocana Buddha is 17.14 m tall | 2000 |
| Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟), Datong | Shanxi | 252 caves and niches with 51,000 statues, carved under the Northern Wei from the mid-5th to early 6th century | 2001 |
| Dazu Rock Carvings (大足石刻) | Chongqing | More than 10,000 carvings from the 9th to 13th centuries in five clusters, including Beishan and Baodingshan | 1999 |
Giant Buddhas
| Statue | Where | Height | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛) | Leshan, Sichuan | 71 m | Carved into a cliff in the 8th century where the Min, Dadu and Qingyi rivers meet; the largest stone Buddha in the world. UNESCO 1996, with Mount Emei. |
| Spring Temple Buddha (中原大佛) | Lushan County, Pingdingshan, Henan | 128 m, including a 20 m lotus throne | A copper statue of Vairocana Buddha completed in 2008; it was the world’s tallest statue until 2018 and is now second. |
| Vairocana of Fengxian Cave | Longmen Grottoes, Luoyang, Henan | 17.14 m | Carved in the 670s; the largest statue at Longmen, with ears 2 m long. |
The Leshan Giant Buddha
The Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛, Lèshān Dàfó) was carved out of a riverside cliff in Sichuan in the 8th century. Tradition says the work was begun by a monk called Haitong, who hoped that a figure of Maitreya, the future Buddha, would calm the dangerous waters where the rivers meet; it took several decades to complete. At 71 metres it is the largest stone Buddha in the world and by far the tallest statue surviving from before modern times. It shares its UNESCO listing with nearby Mount Emei.
Maitreya is the same figure Chinese Buddhists know in another form as the Laughing Buddha.[3][4]
Questions readers ask
What are the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China?
Mount Wutai in Shanxi (Manjushri), Mount Emei in Sichuan (Samantabhadra), Mount Putuo in Zhejiang (Guanyin) and Mount Jiuhua in Anhui (Ksitigarbha). Each is regarded as the earthly seat of one of these bodhisattvas.
How tall is the Leshan Giant Buddha?
71 metres (233 feet). Carved into a cliff in Sichuan in the 8th century, it is the largest stone Buddha in the world.
What is the tallest Buddha statue in China?
The Spring Temple Buddha in Lushan County, Henan: a copper statue of Vairocana Buddha 128 metres tall, including its 20-metre lotus throne. Completed in 2008, it was the tallest statue in the world until 2018.
Where are the Mogao Caves?
In the cliffs above the Dachuan River, south-east of the Dunhuang oasis in Gansu province, north-west China. The 492 surviving caves hold about 45,000 square metres of murals and more than 2,000 painted sculptures, made between the 4th and 14th centuries.
How many statues are in the Longmen Grottoes?
Almost 110,000 stone statues, in more than 2,300 caves and niches along the Yi River south of Luoyang, Henan. Most were carved between the late 5th and mid-8th centuries.
What are the most famous Buddhist grottoes in China?
The best known are the Mogao Caves (Gansu), the Longmen Grottoes (Henan), the Yungang Grottoes (Shanxi) and the Dazu Rock Carvings (Chongqing). All four are UNESCO World Heritage sites.
What is Mount Emei famous for?
It is the sacred mountain of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, rises to 3,099 metres, and has 76 Buddhist monasteries of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It shares a UNESCO World Heritage listing (1996) with the Leshan Giant Buddha.
Is Mount Putuo an island?
Yes. Mount Putuo is an island of about 12.5 square kilometres in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, in the East China Sea. It is sacred to Guanyin and has more than 30 major temples.
Sources
- Wikipedia, List of World Heritage Sites in China · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Leshan Giant Buddha · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Spring Temple Buddha · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Sacred Mountains of China · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Mount Wutai · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Mount Emei · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Mount Putuo · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Mount Wutai · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Mount Jiuhua · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Mogao Caves · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Longmen Grottoes · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Longmen Grottoes · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Yungang Grottoes · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Dazu Rock Carvings · accessed 1 Nov 2026
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Shaolin Temple · accessed 1 Nov 2026
Update log. 1 November 2026 — reviewed. Next review due 1 February 2027. Suggest a correction