Binglingsi Shiku (Thousand Buddha Caves) is a collection of caves and grottoes set in an inaccessible canyon by the Yellow River about 80km upstream from Lanzhou. The site's very isolation has protected and preserved Binglingsi; not least from marauding Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution (1966 - 76).

The first Buddhist grottoes at Binglingsi date from the Eastern Jin Dynasty (c. 317 - 420 CE); and construction continued for well over a thousand years throughout the Tang; Song; Ming and Qing eras.

The Bingling caves were often sponsored by wealthy patrons investing some of their Silk Road profits in accruing merit for this life and the next. A total of 183 caves; together with nearly 700 carved stone statues and 82 terracotta sculptures survive; many showing very clear evidence of South Asian Buddhist artistic influences - indeed; art experts agree that Binglingsi is a stylistic midpoint between the former monumental Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan; and grotto complexes further east within China at Datong and Longmen. Pictures From Asia David Henley