tower area in the southern section, niches 001 to 008 and 15l are located on the Yunping Stone in front of the mountain, and niches 009 to 011 are located on the Tianmen Stone. The remnant niche to the left of the original 101 niches is a duplicate of 102 niches. Most of the south niche statues were excavated in the Tang Dynasty. According to its cliff face, combined with the generations of statue inscriptions, according to the order of excavation, the existing important inscriptions and representative niches of the South Niche can be roughly divided into eight groups. History and its origin The cliff statue of the Southern Niche began in Sui, and flourished in Tang, along with Song to the Republic of China. References Bazhong Chinese Buddhist grottoes