In the Song and Jin dynasties, a large number of craftsmen signed their names in the inscriptions of grottoes, mainly concentrated in the grottoes complexes in northern Shaanxi, eastern Gansu and eastern Sichuan.According to the current investigation, a total of more than 100 craftsman names have been documented. These historical sources reveal information regarding their organizational structures, professional titles, and social statuses. Through investigation and analysis, it considers that the historical transformation during the early modern period have made great progress and promotion in craftsmen’s status, ideological perspectives, and cultural engagement, which constitute the main reason for the rise of the signature trend.

During the late Southern Song Dynasty, the Liu-Zhao Sect carried out large-scale statue-making activities in eastern Sichuan. Three unique self-created statues—Liu Benzun, Curly-Haired Figures and Straight-Haired Figures—are widely distributed within the sect's iconographic system, collectively reflecting its organizational structure. The statue of Liu Benzun, depicted as a standardized grha-pati (lay Buddhist) figure, wears a Dongpo scarf and a cross-collared garment with only one eye, one ear and one arm. Curly-Haired Figures are characterized by their tightly curly hair, while Straight-Haired Figures feature straight ear-length hair. Through systematic collection, sorting and study of three kinds of statues, it argues that the people composing the Liu-Zhao Sect are divided into three hierarchical categories. Liu Juzhi, the supreme Benzun patriarch, serves as sect's leader. The Curly-Haired Figures, symbolizing senior devotees proficient in Buddhist teachings, form the core. The Straight-Haired Figure who represent the ordinary followers constitute the foundation. In the sect's idealized structure, grha-pati dominates. The sect enshrine a group of well-known grha-pati figures in their grottos. The statue of Vimalakirti is worshipped atop the Buddha altar in the Small Buddha Bay of Baoding Mountain, while important niches and caves of Big Buddha Bay and Huayan Cave display the names, images and works of Fu Dashi, Li Tongxuan, and Yang Jie, further underscoring the special attributes of the Liu-Zhao Sect as a grha-pati-centered religious community.

Liu Benzun Buddhism, which was popular in eastern Sichuan during the Southern Song Dynasty, had a profound influence on the local folk society. Liu's deeds are rarely recorded in official historical records, mainly in folk inscriptions, inscriptions of carving statues and local Chronicles. Among them, there are relatively detailed records about Liu Benzun in both the Biography of Liu Benzun rewritten by Zujue, Zen master of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the inscriptions of Tableau of Liu Benzun' s Ten Austerities. The rest are available in inscriptions and local Chronicles from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Through collation and research of Liu's historical documents, it lays a foundation for a comprehensive understanding of Liu Benzun's historical deeds and their social influence.

Through the analysis of the statue of Queen Shuming in the Dazu Rock Carvings, this paper argues that a folk belief in Queen Shuming had formed during this period, which was primarily centered on granting children and healing eye diseases. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the cult of Shuming within the Dongyue belief system has further evolved, with child-granting and eyesight restoration becoming one of the main contents of the Dongyue goddess belief.

Northern Sichuan is located adjacent to the Hanzhong Basin to the east, connects to the Chengdu Plain to the west, extends to the southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the north, and encompasses the upper reaches of the Jialing River to the south. This region served as a crucial transportation corridor between the Central Plains in the north and the southwestern borderlands, making it a key area for cultural integration and interaction between northern and southern China. In the first half of the 7th century, Buddhist cliff sculptures surged in various locations, including Guangyuan, Bazhong, Jian'ge, Zitong, Mianyang, Langzhong, and Maoxian. These sculptures, which exhibit similar niche forms and artistic styles, mark the beginning of large-scale standardized grotto construction in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. Their significance lies in helping understand not only the north-to-south transregional dissemination of grottoes, but also the establishment of local tradition in the southwest. This article examines the construction models of Buddhist cliff sculptures in northern Sichuan from the late Sui to the early Tang Dynasty through spatial distribution, subject matter, and inscriptions. Drawing on existing research on sites announced to public and historical documents, it explores the forces that contributed to the flourishing of these grottoes and sheds light on the complex social and cultural interactions between the Central Plains and the Sichuan-Chongqing region.

The cliff sculptures on Yuchan Mountain in Luxian County of Sichuan were mainly carved during the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the niche of Nine Loongs Bathing the Prince located around the Thousand-handed Avalokitesvara is themed on Jātaka tales, which represents a relatively rare subject matter containing rich historical information in grottoes of the Sichuan-Chongqing region. This niche of bathing the prince is a type developed during the later period in the eastward transmission of similar subject matter. The hand gestures of the prince is also a distinctive feature representing both a return of early iconography and an integration of three scenes, including birth, loong bathing and seven-step declaration. The construction of the niche of loong bathing the prince on Yuchan Mountain might be resulted from the belief in Shakyamuni and the tradition of praying for blessings.

The statues of the Pilu Cave at Xiaofowan of the Baodingshan Rock Carvings in Dazu forms a simplified and transformed Vajradhātu Mahā Maṇḍala. The inner court of the Pilu Cave is inhabited by nine deities, including the Five Tathāgatas and the Four Pāramitā Bodhisattvas, which are consistent with statues of Tibetan Buddhist temples and grottoes in the late Tang, the Song and the Yuan dynasties, and of the Xixia caves at Dunhuang. Different from both, there are two Bodhisattvas added to the upper left and right of Vairocana. The outer court of the Pilu Cave is inhabited by Liu Benzun's ten bodies of ascetic practices, the Eight Sacred Witnesses and the Eight Mahā-Vidyarājas. Among them, the eight bodies of Liu Benzun symbolizing the Eight Offering Bodhisattvas, and the Eight Sacred Witnesses jointly constitute the sixteen deities, which are distributed in four directions and equal to the Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas. The other two Liu Benzun's bodies of ascetic practices occupy the upper left and right of the outer court, corresponding to two additionally-added Bodhisattvas in the inner court. Along the lowermost of the outer court are standing the Eight Mahā-Vidyarājas, including the Four Deities Guarding Four Directions and the Four Deities Protecting Four Corners and representing the Eight Guardian Deities. The statues along the gateway, roof and outside walls of the cave constitute the Outer Vajradhātu. The upper 145 seated statues represent the Thousand Buddhas of Bhadrakalpa, the lower 20 devarajās and vidyarajās symbolize the deities of the ten directions who haven't got the name of Vajra and the empowerment granted by Vairocana. The statues involving Vajradhātu Maṇḍala in the Pilu Cave at Xiaofowan of the Baodingshan Rock Carvings in Dazu illustrate Zhao Zhifeng's ascetic practices, offering to Buddhism, attaining enlightenment and becoming Buddha, which reflects the doctrine of Vajrayāna and the manner of Sichuan Esoteric Buddhism and is a typical case of making Buddhism Chinese.

The Stele of Wei Junjing serves as a critical historical document shedding light on the political and social dynamics of southern Dongchuan in the tumultuous late Tang Dynasty. Amid repeated upheavals in Dongchuan, Wei Junjing, a representative of the tuhao (local strongman) class in the region, spearheaded a bottom-up political ascent through armed separatist regimes, which enabled the establishment of localized social order and governance system dominated by the local tuhao elite. By integrating military and civilian administration, Wei Junjing's regime fulfilled the political demands of asserting dominance over rural society. The survival strategy and behavioral patterns of Wei Junjing's faction were encapsulated in the dual principles of zunjun (loyalty to the throne) and shoutu (territorial guardianship). Utilizing stone inscriptions as a medium, Wei Junjing meticulously crafted an image of zhongjie (loyalty and integrity) to legitimize his authority, consolidate group cohesion, and reinforce his political foundation. Simultaneously, the stele subtly conveyed his faction's latent centrifugal tendencies toward jieshuai (military governor) of Dongchuan.

To conceive of Chinese Buddhist ritual as an eternal, environmental, non-human activity is to propose a paradox. After all, Buddhist liturgies generally take the form of temporary feasts offered to spirits by human officiants within the confines of defined ritual arenas. However, a number of texts, images, and sites created in Song-dynasty China suggest that premodern worshippers developed remarkably creative means of conceptualizing time, space, and agency in order to expand the efficacy of ritual. Shizhuanshan in Dazu provides a particularly good example of this. This essay uses Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to consider how Shizhuanshan's carved images, texts, and landscape work together to exert agency and to extend the efficacy of ritual eternally.

As important part of cave temples, the architectures in front of caves (niches) have always attracted the attention of many scholars. Though there are rich cave temples in Sichuan-Chongqing region, we used to focus on archaeological record and study of statues instead of research on cliff surface relics, structural remains in front caves (niches), and associated monastic remains. This article organizes and makes a study on the architectural remains in front of caves (niches) of those small and medium-sized grottoes from the Tang and Song dynasties, which have been excavated over the past few years in Chongqing. On one hand, the traces connecting various types of wooden architectural structures in front of caves (niches) and stone surfaces of cliff-face architectural relics have been observed from the remnants of platforms, the bodies of buildings, and roof remnants, which provide important clues for understanding cliff surface relics. On the other hand, the overall shape of three excavated architectural remains in front of niches (caves) are introduced in detail, which emphasizes it's significant that cliff-face architectural relics correspond to and combine with wooden structures, platforms, floors, and other elements to form a complete architectural form. Finally, the multiple functions of the architectural remains in front of caves (niches) are discussed, especially from the functions to protect statues inside niches or caves, to offer space for religious activities, and to be a part of monastic architectures, all of which provide a basic reference for subsequent protection and research.