Yungang Buddhist Caves, located at the foot of the Wuzhou Mountain,approximately 16 kilometers west of Datong City, is one of China's four most famous "Buddhist Caves Art Treasure Houses".The contained 53 caves are home to over 51, 000 stone sculptures that were completed during the Northern Wei Dynasty (460 -494 AD) ranging from an imposing 17 meter (56ft) Buddha to finely carved 2cm (1 inch) sculptures.

The magnificent carvings on a wide range of subjects, absorbing essence of both Chinese and foreign arts, have great artistic charm.As well as carvings some caves are also decorated with frescoes and paintings depicting scenes from Buddha’s life. The grottoes extend one kilometre from east to west and can be classified into three major categories.

The first group consisting of Caves 1, 2, 3 and 4 are at the eastern end separate from others. Cave 1 and Cave 2 have suffered from the rigors of time and being exposed to the elements. Cave 3, is an addition added after the Northern Wei Dynasty and is the largest grotto among Yungang caves.

The second group of caves, 5 threw to 13 is where your tour normally begins. The grandeur of Yungang art is very noticeable, particularly in this group of caves.

Cave 5 contains a seated Buddha with a height of 17 meters which is the largest Buddha statue. At the center of Cave No.6 is a sculptured 2-storeyed square pagoda, 16 meters high, with meticulously carved statue of Buddha on top, considered to be a masterwork in sculpture art. On the Cave walls and the four faces of the pagoda, are carved Jataka of Buddhism, on a grand scale, which, as a skillful work of art, is the essence of Yungang Grottoes. Cave No.6 is among the 5 "cloudy and Luminary Grottoes" that is the earliest in creation and most magnificent, with statues of Sakyamuni in various postures, and wearing different facial expressions.

Yungang Caves comprise 24 mini-caves housing four seated statues which are round-faced, thin-lipped and high-nosed with a background of beautiful patterns of flames, sitting Buddha etc.

The Bodhisattva is engraved in Cave 7.

In Yungang Cave 8 is an extremely rare statue of Shiva seen with eight arms and four heads and riding on a bull.

The Wuhua Caves: Located in the middle of Yungang Caves, they consist of Cave Nos. 9-13. Cave No.9 and Cave No.10 are of square structure, consisting of a front room and an inner room.They are notable for it's front pillars and figures bearing musical instruments.

Cave No.11 contains on the upper part of eastern wall, an epigraph on statues located in 95th area created in 483 A. D. It has a square pagoda-pillar in its centre reaching to the roof. On its four sides are carved images of Buddha.

On the northern and eastern walls of the front room in Cave No.12 , there are sculptured a three-bay house of imitated wooden structure and a shrine, and on the cave ceiling, carved female musicians, holding panpipe, pipa (a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard), flutes, drums etc.

Cave No.13 houses in the center, a cross-legged statue of Maitreya, 13 meters high, with his right arm supported by four vijrapanis. On the door arch of the south wall are carved 7 standing Buddha statues. The rich plastic arts of sculpture on Wuhua Caves are visual materials for study of arts, history, music, architecture etc.

The rest caves belong to the third group. Cave 14 has eroded severely. Cave 15 is named as the Cave of Ten Thousand Buddhas.

Caves numbering 16 to Cave 20 are the oldest in this complexes and each one symbolizes an emperor from the Northern Wei Dynasty and is were the subject of "Emperor is the Buddha" is embodied. The caves from No. 21 onward are built in the later times and cannot compare to their better-preserved counterparts.

Open-air Buddha Statue: Located in Cave No.20, with the front wall ruined in the Liao Dynasty, at the central-west corner of Yungang Caves, is a seated statue of Sakyamuni, 13.7 meters high, with a well-preserved hard-stone upper body, consisting of wide shoulders, a full face, thin lips and high nose etc., and a relief sculptured background of patterns of flames, sitting Buddha, Apsaras etc. It's a typical carving of Yangang Caves.