Maijishan Grottoes

The Maijishan Grottoes (麥積山石窟) are a series of nearly 200 man-made caves cut in the side of the hill of Maijishan in northwest China, featuring thousands of sculpted statues and murals carved into its cliffs.^[1]

Constructed under the Later Qin dynasty in the Gansu province, over seven thousand Buddhist sculptures and a thousand square meters of murals were carved from the caves' red sandstone. A series of platforms were built in the outside, providing visitors navigation in Maijishan's vertical slopes as well as granting access to the caves inside.^[1]

History[edit | edit source]

During the Ming dynasty, the grottoes served as one of the headquarters of the Chinese Assassins until 1524, when the Chinese Templars initiated a purge of their enemies. After the Assassins were driven out, the cave system was converted into a secret Templar prison overseen by one of the Eight Tigers, Gao Feng.^[2]

In 1526, Gao Feng's forces captured the Assassin Shao Jun and retrieved a Precursor box in her possession before imprisoning her in a cage within the grottoes. After a failed attempt to interrogate Shao Jun to learn what she knew about the box,^[2] Gao Feng left her alone and went to meet with his fellow Tiger Qiu Ju, who came to verify the rumors that Gao Feng had captured an Assassin.^[3]

Shortly after Qiu Ju's departure, Shao Jun, who had allowed herself to be captured to infiltrate the grottoes, escaped from her cage and killed Gao Feng. However, she failed to recover the Precursor box as it had already been transported to the Tiger Gu Dayong in Macau. Shao Jun also freed the Assassin informant Hong Liwei,^[2] and retrieved the remaining Assassin scrolls in the grottoes before making her escape.^[4]