Dazu is a quiet, green corner of the Chongqing hills, a long way from the skyscraper image the municipality usually gets. The Shizhuanshan carvings sit in the countryside south-west of the old town, cut into a sandstone cliff beneath trees, and they belong to the same group of Song-dynasty sites that earned Dazu a place on the World Heritage list in 1999. They are smaller and more intimate than the better-known Baodingshan, and many visitors say they are the more peaceful of the two.
What makes Shizhuanshan unusual is the mixture. Elsewhere in China, cliff carvings tend to be Buddhist, but here Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian figures share the rock, a reminder that in the twelfth century these traditions were comfortable neighbours. The sculptors worked in a soft, fine-grained stone that took detail well, and some of the figures still carry traces of colour, which gives them an almost human presence in the shade.
The roads that reach Dazu are not mountain roads in the alpine sense. They run through rolling terraces of rice, rapeseed and bamboo, with red soil, villages strung along the lanes and a lot of local traffic: motorbikes, three-wheelers, trucks and the odd water buffalo. Corners are frequent but mostly gentle, the surface varies from smooth new tarmac to patched old asphalt, and in the wet season a thin film of mud can find its way onto the bends. Ride at a conversational pace and you will see more.
The weather in this part of Sichuan basin country is often hazy and humid, and the best conditions come in spring and autumn, when the air clears a little and the temperature is kind. Summer is hot and sticky, and winter can be damp and grey, but that grey light suits a visit to a carved cliff. There is no town of any size in the immediate area, so plan your fuel and food in Dazu itself, where you will find the usual range of noodle shops and hotpot restaurants, because this is Chongqing territory and spice is part of the local language.
Take a few minutes to look at the faces on the rock before you leave. They were carved nearly a thousand years ago for ordinary worshippers, and they still look like they know who is looking at them.