In 1998, the author made a systematic survey of the Beishi Xianghang image-grotto, which lies on a cliff-side in the southern section of West Mount at Longmen. Although its front has been destroyed, the whole grotto can be reconstructed to be a domed cave by referring to the images in other grottoes. Along the lower part of the west wall and that of the rear halves of the north and south walls is a continuous platform, on which three statues are erected in a group. The main statue is a Buddha sitting cross-legged at the middle (west) wall. In the grotto are 28 small niches, which contain image groups of three, one or multiple statues. According to the niche inscriptions and a comparison with dated images in other caves at Longmen, the Beishi Xianghang grotto is a medium- or small-sized cave built by a group of Chinese and foreign spice merchants living in the Eastern Capital of the Tang Dynasty in the Wu Zhou reign.
