佚名 · Public domain
Tang to Wu Zhou · 624–705
Wu Zetian
武曌 · China
The only widely recognised empress regnant in Chinese history
She ruled first as empress to Emperor Gaozong of Tang and then as empress dowager. In 690 she renamed the dynasty Zhou and declared herself emperor, ruling until 705. She and Gaozong spent long periods in Luoyang and strongly supported the carving of the Longmen Grottoes; the Vairocana Buddha at Fengxian Temple was completed with her funding between 672 and 676. She also paid for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to be rebuilt with seven storeys.
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History · Longmen Grottoes
The Vairocana Buddha sponsored by Wu Zetian
Carving of the Longmen Grottoes began in 493 under the Northern Wei, sponsored by emperors, nobles, generals and religious groups. Work reached its peak while Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Wu Zetian ruled from Luoyang. The largest cave on the West Hill, Fengxian Temple, was completed between 672 and 676 with Wu Zetian's patronage; its Vairocana Buddha, full-faced with a faint smile, is often considered the pinnacle of Tang Buddhist sculpture.
History · Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Da Ci'en Temple
Xuanzang's seventeen years and a pagoda
In 629 Xuanzang set out west from Chang'an, travelling through Central Asia to India, where he studied under the master Śīlabhadra at Nālandā; he returned to Chang'an in 645 with at least 657 Sanskrit texts. To preserve these scriptures and Buddha images safely, in 652 he oversaw the building of a pagoda in the style of the Western Regions — the pagoda of Da Ci'en Temple. The original later decayed, and Wu Zetian and nobles paid for it to be demolished and rebuilt as a seven-storey square pavilion-style pagoda, which survives today.
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Longmen Grottoes
The smile of the Vairocana Buddha, distilling the evolution of sculptural aesthetics from the Northern Wei to the High Tang.
Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Da Ci'en Temple
Where Xuanzang translated the scriptures — 'signing beneath the Wild Goose Pagoda' carries a thousand years of scholars' longing to pass the exa…