Luoyang Videos

Longmen Grottoes are scattered on the Mount Xiang and Mount Longmen in Luoyang City. The grottoes were started in 493 A.D. and continued to be built in the following 400 years. Today, there are 2345 caves and niches, housing more than 100,000 Buddha statues and 2,800 stone tablets.

Longmen Grottoes Scenic Area has been open to the public since April, 2012. After a four-month improvement project, the grottoes are beautifully decorated with advanced lamps and lanterns, giving off an ambient glamour at night.

About 12 kilometers from the old town area in Luoyang, the White Horse Temple, built in 68 AD, was the oldest Buddhist temple. History tells it that the Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty saw a golden man with a halo around him in his dream. Fu Yi, his minister identified the golden man as a Buddha. Consequently the Emperor Ming sought for Buddhist sutras in the year of 64 AD. Three years later, two Indian monks, She Moteng and Zhu Falan, returned with the mission which he had sent. Thus Buddhism was introduced to China. The Emperor Ming constructed an Indian style building to house the two Indian monks and facilitated translation of Buddhist sutras into Chinese. The building was named Bai Ma Si (White Horse Temple) after the beast of burden which transported the sutras over land.