Thousand-Buddha Cliff

The Thousand-Buddha Cliff (Chinese: 千佛崖; pinyin: Qiānfó Yá) is a historical site of mostly Tang dynasty rock carvings in central Shandong Province, China.

Because Ming De felt his life was coming to an end at the time, he also donated money towards the carving of additional statues.

Because the Tang dynasty's official policy during the time was to encourage conversion to Taoism, the carving of Buddhist statues implied a political risk.

Hence, the inscriptions left by Sha Dong and Ming De point out that the sole purpose of the statues was prayer and not the expression of political opinions.

Besides the Buddhist sculptures, there are also secular statues depicting nobility such as relatives of the emperor, government officials, and famous monks.