Stone Carving (Dazu Stone Carving)

Dazu stone carving is the collective name for the carving art of Dazu district in Chongqing handed down since the Tang and Song, originating in the early Tang and growing inseparably from the World Heritage Dazu Rock Carvings, transmitted master to apprentice through demonstration for more than ten generations.

It works mostly local Dazu sandstone and bluestone, later also purple jade and white marble, all by hand, through gathering stone, conceiving, drafting, clay modeling, mold-making, carving, fine carving, grinding, and polishing. Its subjects span the imagery of the three teachings, Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian, graceful in form and varied in technique.

Inheriting the imagery tradition of the Dazu Rock Carvings, Dazu stone carving is a key example of the living transmission of Chinese grotto art, distilling the stone-working wisdom of the region's craftsmen. It was inscribed on the fifth national intangible-heritage list in 2021.

The craft and its works can be seen at Dazu's stone-carving cultural sites, transmission centers, and intangible-heritage displays in Chongqing, the inner and outer faces of the same heritage as the Dazu Rock Carvings.