Chongqing - This year, the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute and the Dazu Rock Carving Research Institute have joined forces to launch the third season titled "Longmen on the Cloud and Walk into Dazu," which will officially commence on March 12, 2023. 

Through eight live broadcasts, the event will showcase the appearance of the cave groups from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) to the Song Dynasty (AD (960-1127)), telling the story from the royal cave temple to the folk carvings featuring Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.

This event will take the audience to experience the charm of the two World Cultural Heritage sites and provide an exciting and professional interpretation of the background and artistic characteristics of the two caves by authoritative experts in cave temple research. The last episode will feature the former director and research curator of the Dazu Rock Carving Institute, Li Fangyin, and the director of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, Shi Jiazhen. They will explain the history and artistic "codes" behind the precious heritage, release the two grottoes' latest archaeological results, and future plans for their protection, research, and digitization.

The series of live events will be launched simultaneously in Chongqing and Luoyang and on the official new media platforms of Dazu and Longmen Grottoes. The organizer will also establish topics on Weibo and TikTok to integrate and release the live content.

This series of live broadcast activities have been successfully carried out for two seasons with the participation of Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, two World Cultural Heritage sites. The previous programs have garnered over 160 million views on various platforms. This year's event will continue to showcase the charm of China's cave temples and culture, with more moving stories and insights from authoritative experts in the field of cave temple research.

The Longmen Grottoes are a pinnacle of Chinese stone carving art. They are vast in scale, rich in content, and diverse in themes. With the development of rock carvings under the historical context of social change and cultural transformation in the Tang and Song dynasties, the Dazu Rock Carvings created a classic example of Chinese characteristics in the history of the world's cave art, integrating the spirit of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. The two grottoes, with their different styles, are the splendid heritage of Chinese civilization.