Wushan Water Curtain Caves

The Wushan Water Curtain Caves are about 90 kilometres northwest of Tianshui and are among the least-visited significant Buddhist cave sites in Gansu. The main feature is a 30-metre cliff-carved Buddha accompanied by smaller figures, all dating from the fifth and sixth centuries, set in a dramatic location where a natural spring creates a curtain of water across the rock face. The combination of religious art, natural phenomenon, and remote setting is unusual even by the standards of Chinese cave sites.

Because the site lacks the name recognition of Maijishan or the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang, the crowds are minimal and the atmosphere is quiet. The road to the site passes through mountain scenery that is itself worth the journey. Getting there requires a bus to Wushan County and then local transport; it is most practical as a full-day excursion from Tianshui.

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A story
The thirty-metre Buddha at the Water Curtain Caves was carved into a north-facing cliff in the Sixteen Kingdoms period — the chaotic early fifth century, when northwest China was divided among competing states and Buddhist patronage was used by rulers as a form of legitimacy. The size of the figure, visible from the valley floor, was itself a political statement. The spring that seeps from the cliff face and falls as a curtain of water in front of the Buddha gave the site its name, and the effect — water running down the carved face — is intentional and theatrical.

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