Chongqing-On March 1, students at Chongqing Dazu Middle School surprisingly found during their history class that a picture of Sakyamuni's holy relic of nirvana in the Dazu Stone Carving appeared in Lesson 12, "Cities and Culture of the Song and Yuan Dynasties", in the latest revision of the national unified textbook of Chinese History for the second volume of Grade 7.

The history teacher at Chongqing Dazu Middle School is teaching students about the history of Dazu Rock Carvings.

he Dazu Rock Carvings were first built in the early Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. There are more than 50,000 statues, which represent the highest level of grottoes art in the world from the 9th and 13th centuries, embody the traditional values of the Chinese nation including love, kindness, filial piety, righteousness and integrity, demonstrate the infinite vitality of the fine national culture, and reflect the core socialist values. In 1999, the Dazu Rock Carvings were listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO, becoming the second world heritage site of grottoes in China after the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.

Since the 1990s, the Dazu Rock Carvings have been included in local teaching textbooks and university textbooks in various forms. In 1998, they were included in the second volume of Grade 7 of the Sichuan education edition of Chinese History, in the form of "the most valuable or memorable things". The textbook was used in several provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in western China and was revised in autumn 2017. The Dazu Rock Carvings were included in a local teaching textbook called Morality and Society published by People's Publishing House in 2012, and in a local art teaching textbook published by People's Fine Art Education Publishing House in 2013. They have also been included in textbooks for majors in history, fine art and philosophy by Nanjing Normal University.

The latest revision of the national unified textbook of Chinese History for the second volume of Grade 7.

From this semester, students across the country can feel the cultural and artistic charm of Dazu Stone Carvings in their history textbooks. "I'm proud as a Dazu local," said Huang Maoheng from Class 7 of Grade 7, who was particularly excited when he found the picture of Shakyamuni and read the entire part in one sitting.

Tan Fei, from Class 10 of Grade 9, grew up in Gansu Province and then moved to Dazu. He is particularly interested in grottoes culture and has long heard of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and Dazu Stone Carvings. Upon hearing the news about the inclusion of Dazu Stone Carvings into history textbooks, Tan Fei immediately borrowed a textbook from his teacher. "I want to learn this part very well to publicize the grottoes culture," said Tan Fei.

Students at Chongqing Dazu Middle School are discussing the new content on Dazu Stone Carvings in the history textbook.

"The inclusion of Dazu Stone Carvings into the national unified textbook helps to enhance students' understanding of Chinese grottoes art, history of Tang and Song Dynasties and fine traditional Chinese culture. It also plays a positive role in cultivating teenagers' outlooks on world, life and value," said Xu Xuemei, a history teacher at the school. After getting the textbook, Xu has been thinking about how to giving this lesson in a better way. She will combine local advantages with the content of the textbook to make the brilliance of humanity embodied by Dazu Rock Carvings shine in the hearts of students.

Xu Xuemei, a history teacher at the school.