Western Hills Dragon Gate 西山龙门

About Western Hills Dragon Gate

Western Hills Dragon Gate (西山龙门) is a line of Daoist grottoes, cliff tunnels and a carved stone gateway cut into Luohan Cliff (罗汉崖) in the Western Hills (西山) of Kunming, Xishan District, high above the western shore of Dianchi Lake (滇池).

The Western Hills follow the west side of Dianchi from Bijiguan (碧鸡关) in the north to Haikou (海口) in the south, and their outline from a distance is likened to a sleeping Buddha or a reclining woman. Zhangjiajie Daily explains the cliff as the product of a north-south fault: land west of it was lifted into a precipice more than 600 m high, while the ground to the east sank and became the lake. The gateway stands on this cliff at over 2,300 m, 414 m above the water.

Chinese Wikipedia, citing the Xishan District gazetteer, calls the site the largest Daoist grotto complex in Yunnan; cutting began in the Jiajing reign of the Ming and the complex was enlarged under the Qing. Zhangjiajie Daily dates the main carving to 1781-1853, a 72-year effort led in three stages by the Daoist Wu Laiqing (吴来清) and then by Yang Rulan (杨汝兰) and his son Yang Jitai (杨际泰). A local legend held that Yunnan would produce a zhuangyuan, a top graduate of the imperial examinations, once a dragon gate was cut in the cliff; in 1903 the Yunnan scholar Yuan Jiagu (袁嘉谷) came first in a special examination and became the only one in Yunnan's history. Kunming listed the grottoes as a municipal protected site in 1961 and Yunnan made them a provincial one in 1993.

The route along the cliff passes three rock-cut rooms. The Old Stone Chamber (旧石室), the earliest, has poems and eight merit records cut into its walls and a phoenix relief above the entrance. Ciyun Cave (慈云洞), from the Qianlong reign, holds a 0.82 m statue of Guanyin as giver of sons. Datian Pavilion (达天阁) pairs the Dragon Gate archway with a room whose figures of Kuixing (魁星), Wenchang Dijun (文昌帝君) and Guan Sheng (关圣) are carved from the living rock, with a leaping carp on one side outside and a golden dragon on the other. Two old paths climb the hills: the Qianbu Cliff (千步崖) path of 1,007 steps from Longmen Village, and the Yuan-era Taihua Old Path (太华古道) linking Huating Temple (华亭寺) and Taihua Temple (太华寺). The traveller Xu Xiake (徐霞客) climbed by one and came down by the other in 1638.

What to look for

• The Dragon Gate archway (龙门门坊), 2.83 m high and 1.55 m wide, on the cliff more than 2,300 m above sea level
• Datian Pavilion (达天阁), a rock chamber with Kuixing, Wenchang Dijun and Guan Sheng carved from the cliff, flanked outside by a carp and a golden dragon
• Ciyun Cave (慈云洞), a Qianlong-era chamber with a stone Guanyin giving sons
• The Old Stone Chamber (旧石室), the earliest grotto, with carved poems, eight merit records and a phoenix relief
• Qianbu Cliff path (千步崖), 1,007 stone steps from Longmen Village with old and Republican-era inscribed tablets
• Taihua Old Path (太华古道), the oldest path in the Western Hills, running nearly 2 km between Huating Temple and Taihua Temple

Location & getting there

Getting to Western Hills Dragon Gate

• Search for 西山龙门 with 昆明市 and 西山区.