Buddhist carvings found on cliff

Four cliff carvings of Buddhist images have been discovered in a remote spot in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Experts say the discovery sheds new light on the development of Buddhism in China.

The carvings are in the Helan Mountain region, an ancient route that once linked Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. Archeologists found four images of Buddha inscribed on a cliff. The biggest is nine meters high and six meter wide. Sanskrit inscriptions were found beside the images.

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spotintheNingxiaHuiAutonomousRegion.

Experts from the local cultural heritage authority have concluded that these Buddhist images were carved in the Ming Dynasty some four hundred years ago.

The history of Buddhist carving in China goes back over one thousand years to a time when Buddhism was becoming popular. From the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, monks used to travel along the Helan Mountain route to spread Buddhism into Inner Mongolia. They paused to leave these inscriptions during their long journeys.

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China: Through the Lens of John Thomson

China: Through the Lens of John Thomson is a historic photographic exhibition consisting of 150 images taken in China between 1868 and 1872. The exhibition includes a wide variety of images, themes and locations in China from Beijing to Fujian and Guangdong, portraying landscapes, people, architecture and street scenes. This is the first exhibition devoted to the Scottish photographer's Chinese images.

The couple sit close together, but the husband looks away. In traditional China, it was improper for a couple to face one another.

The Manchu bride was dressed gorgeously for her wedding, but she looked dull with a melancholy expression in her eyes.

Thomson's photographs on China captured people from all social strata - from wealthy businessmen to street peddlers, from imperial court officials to underground antique dealers, from heavy laborers to religious monks.

What marked Thomson's work out was his desire to present a faithful account of China and its people. He wanted to show his audience the human aspects of life in China through his extensive record of everyday street scenes, images that were rarely captured by other photographers of the time.

In another picture, Thomson captured the sorry inmates of a hospital where orphaned girls were offered for free to supposedly respectable families.

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