China Travel – Stone Carvings of Tieshan and Gangshan Mountains
The Stone Carvings on the Tieshan and Gangshan mountains are located about one kilometer northwest of Zhouxian County, Shandong Province.
There is an abundance of stone carvings from the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581) in this region with well-preserved characters in spite of 1,400 years of wind and rain.
The Stone Carvings on the Tieshan and Gangshan mountains was engraved on level ground north of Tieshan Mountain in 579, covering a land area of 1,037 square meters with a 45 degree gradient. According to the contents, the carvings can be divided into Buddhist scriptures, stone odes and inscriptions. The Buddhist scriptures consist of 17 lines (over 900 words), with each character at 40 to 60cm wide. The stone odes are 80cm high, measuring 70 to 95cm in width per character. The main body of the ode records the names of the donors and dates of the inscription using smaller characters. The beautiful carvings are of the Han style, with other styles also supplemented.
Some 500 meters north of Tieshan Mountain stands Gangshan Mountain. The stone carvings on the latter were engraved in 580 with over 400 words allocated in 26 places.
(Source: chinaculture.org)