Yungang Grottoes, a historical tourist spot on the UNESCO World Heritage List, rank tenth on the 2014 list of the most popular Chinese tourist attractions. The list was issued by TripAdvisor, a famous online community for international travel.
The grottoes, in Northern China's Shanxi province, were built against Wuzhou Mountain, which sits 16 kilometers west of the city of Datong. The construction of the caves started in AD 453 during the Northern Wei Dynasty and took 50 years to complete.
The TripAdvisor ranking is based on comments from millions of travelers worldwide, which TripAdvisor evaluated for content and volume over the past 12 months. TripAdvisor also collected information on the attraction itself, as well as customer satisfaction with hotels and restaurants nearby. The ranking is both authoritative and widely influential.
Yungang Grottoes' ranking is proof not only of its well-known artistic charm, but also its growing popularity among global travelers. Other attractions on the list are the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven Park and the Forbidden City in Beijing; Tiantan Buddha and Chi Lin Nunnery in Hong Kong; the Potala Palace in Tibet; Longji Rice Terrace in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region; and the Shanghai World Financial Center in Shanghai.
TripAdvisor issued a series of lists including the top 25 hot spots in the world, on each continent and even in some states.