What Is It
The Maijishan Grottoes have been around for about 1,600 years, inside a cliffside in Gansu. Now 137 pieces from the site — including 62 original relics and 12 national first-class treasures — are in Shanghai, at Powerlong Museum. Maijishan is one of China's "Four Great Grottoes," sometimes called the "Oriental Sculpture Gallery" for its clay figures: fragile, lifelike, and unsettlingly human.
The exhibition goes beyond statues: three reconstructed caves, murals that have never left Gansu before, and a contemporary art section where 30 artists riff on Buddhist imagery. Centerpieces include the "Eastern Mona Lisa," a small Northern Wei monk with a knowing smile, and the flying apsaras murals — weightless dancers painted as if they might float out of the frame.
Who's It For
Fans of Buddhist art, sure. Students of Chinese history, definitely. But also anyone bored of yet another Monet show. Compared with Dunhuang's Mogao Caves, Maijishan is the quieter sibling — less epic spectacle, more intimacy and craft.
Even if religious art isn't your thing, there's plenty to latch onto: a 1,400-year-old catalogue of hairstyles and outfits that doubles as a Western Wei fashion spread, for example. Exhibition design also leans photogenic — long sightlines, sharp perspectives, very "my phone makes me look like I shoot for National Geographic."
How to Buy Tickets
The show runs July 22 to October 26, 2025, at Powerlong Museum in Minhang. Closed Mondays. Tickets are 88rmb,sold through the museum's official WeChat (ID: powerlongmuseumsh). Online tickets need to be exchanged for paper ones at the desk. Two free guided tours daily (11am, 3pm), plus weekend sessions with specialists if you want extra context.
