Most visitors to Dazu go for the big Buddhist panels at Baodingshan, but the carvings at Nanshan, on a wooded hillside south of the old county town in Chongqing, are a different thing: Taoist, quieter and much less visited. They belong to the same family of sites, the Dazu Rock Carvings, which UNESCO listed in 1999, and they date from the Song dynasty, roughly the twelfth century, when this part of the Sichuan basin was a centre of religious art.
The figures are cut into a cliff face under a natural overhang, protected from the worst of the rain. The most striking group is the hall of the Three Pure Ones, the highest deities of Taoism, whose calm faces look out from niches, surrounded by attendants, officials and guardians with flowing robes. The carving is fine and detailed, with the folds of the clothing, the beards and the headdresses cut with real delicacy. Traces of the original paint can still be seen in places, and in the damp green light under the trees, the stone has a soft, lived-in look.
The landscape is lush and subtropical, with bamboo, camphor trees and terraced fields, and the humid climate means the cliffs are often wet and mossy. Mist is common in the morning. Spring and autumn are the best times, with mild weather and clearer air. Summers are hot and sticky, and winters are grey and damp.
Honestly, this is not easy motorcycle country for a foreign visitor. Riding rules in China are strict, and foreign riders usually need local licensing and registered vehicles, so many people reach Dazu by bus or hired car from Chongqing, which is about a hundred and fifty kilometres to the east. Roads in the area are good, with a fast expressway and winding local roads through the hills. Try the local spicy dishes, with Sichuan pepper and chilli, and be ready for the heat. Early in the day, you may have the cliff almost to yourself.