The Dazu Rock Carvings are known as “a gallery of Guanyin statues”. This is because the Dazu Rock Carvings have many exquisite Guanyin statues depicting varied themes, perfectly showing the beauty of both a deity and a person.

In ancient India, Guanyin appeared as a “devout man”. In Buddhist art before the Tang dynasty, Guanyin occasionally appeared as a person having a beard yet wearing women's clothing. In the Song dynasty, Guanyin was mostly a woman. A proof is that Guanyin statues in the Fowan Cave in the north mountain of the Dazu Rock Carvings largely depict ladies. In terms of posture, the emergence of a large number of sitting Guanyin statues is an important indicator of the secularization of Guanyin statues at the Dazu Rock Carvings. In terms of facial expression, the dainty Guanyin in the north mountain is China’s earliest surviving statue depicting a totally female Guanyin.