A Historical Review of Research on Yuan Dynasty Buddhist Stone Carvings: Centered on the Feilai Peak Grottoes in Hangzhou

Abstract

The Yuan Dynasty of the Mongol Empire was a significant historical period characterized by intensive interaction among multiple ethnic, religious, and artistic traditions. As the largest and best-preserved group of Yuan-period Buddhist sculptures in the Jiangnan region, the Feilai Peak grottoes in Hangzhou provide important material evidence for the study of Tibetan Buddhism, imperial artistic transmission, and cultural interaction under Mongol rule. Taking Feilai Peak as the central case, this article reviews the development of scholarship on Yuan Buddhist stone carvings from the early twentieth century to 2026. Rather than treating this history as a simple sequence of publications, the review distinguishes four stages according to major changes in research conditions and methods: early epigraphic documentation and field investigation; state-led archaeological documentation; specialized art-historical and Sino-Tibetan studies; and recent interdisciplinary and digital approaches. It compares the principal arguments of each stage, identifies persistent disagreements concerning stylistic origins and artistic transmission, and clarifies the relationship between Yuan imperial religious institutions and the localization of Buddhist visual culture in Jiangnan. The article concludes by identifying unresolved questions concerning multilingual sources, artisan networks, regional sites, and digital heritage research.