In June this year, Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum and Chongqing Dazu Rock Carving Research Institute signed a Memorandum on Academic and Cultural Exchange, officially joining hands to build a Bashu cultural tourism corridor.

Stone Tiger: Unearthed from Jinsha Site (Red Star News)

On August 2, Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum announced that a special exhibition ‘Dazu in the world: discovery and inheritance of Dazu Rock Carvings’ will be held in Jinsha Site Museum on August 16. More than 60 pieces (sets) of fine stone carvings from the Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties that were collected by Dazu Rock Carving Research Institute will be on display. The exhibition will focus on Dazu Rock Carving statues represented by Beishan, Baodingshan, Nanshan, Shizhuanshan and Shimenshan grottoes, presenting the unique aesthetic art, exquisite carving technology and advanced cultural protection achievements of Dazu Rock Carving. This exhibition is also the largest outward exhibition of Dazu Rock Carving Research Institute so far. There will be many important exhibits such as the statue of Guanyin as well as an immersive Exhibition Hall created with digital technology.

Dazu stone carvings in Dazu grottoes, Baodingshan dafowan Grottoes No.8 (Red Star News)

In 1999, Dazu Rock Carvings were listed in the World Heritage List. Among the grottoes listed in the World Heritage List, Dazu Rock Carvings represent the highest standards of global grottoes art in the 9th-13th century and are the last monuments in the history of grottoes art.

Gold ornaments of the sun god bird (a symbol of Chinese cultural heritage) were unearthed from the Jinsha site. (Xinhua News Agency) 

Jinsha Site, located in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, is the first major archaeological discovery in China since the 21st century. A large number of gold, jade, bronze, stone tools and tons of ivory have been unearthed here. More than 200 pieces of gold have been unearthed in Jinsha, which is the most explored site in China. Jinsha site, along with the prehistoric city group, Sanxingdui site and the Warring States ship-coffin tomb in Chengdu Plain, comprise the four stages of the development and evolution of ancient Shu civilization and provide evidence that Chengdu Plain was the center of the origin of civilization in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

The largest and best preserved gold mask of the same period in China was unearthed at Jinsha site.( Xinhua News Agency)

In recent years, the application of ancient Shu civilization sites to World Heritage List has attracted much attention. In 2006, the site of ancient Shu state, including Jinsha site, was listed in the Preliminary List of China’s World Cultural Heritage by the National Cultural Heritage Administration. Wang Fang, deputy director of the Jinsha Site Museum, said that Dazu Rock Carvings have been in the list of World Heritage for more than 20 years. Protection of cultural relics and declaration of the sites as world cultural heritage have given a boost to the ancient Shu civilization sites.(By Edina Liang)