Chinese and foreign journalists from the department of Chinese, Pashto, Tamil and Turkish under CRI Online visited the 1500-year-old Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang city, experiencing China's world-class rock carving art on September 19.
Together with Mo Kao Grotto at Dunhuang, Yungang Grottoes in Datong city, the Longmen Grottoes was regarded as one of the Three Famous Buddhism Grottoes in China. The carving of the Longmen Grottoes started 1500 years ago. Till today, as many as 2345 caves, over 100,000 statues and 2800 gravestones with inscription remain intact.
Mohammad Khalid, a journalist from Afghanistan, spoke highly of a grotto dating back to the Northern Wei Dynasty, saying that there are lots and lots of ancient and valuable Buddha statues here. Though time has spoiled these Buddha statues to various extents, visitors still pour into this holy spot with great enthusiasm.
Likewise, Indian journalist Balaraman Shakthivel told his counterparts that Hinduism also produced similar grottoes, yet which suffer serious natural and artificial damage. He was astonished to see Locanabuddha in such a good condition.
