China Stones is a journey down the Spirit Road of the tombs of the ancient emperors and nobles, shaped some 1500 years ago.

The Shen Lao (Spirit Road), a long avenue flanked on either side by pairs of stone sculptures of animals and figures, leads up to a carefully fashioned earth tumulus beneath which lies the underground palace in which the emperor's body rested surrounded by treasures and other objects placed for use in the afterlife.

My photography expedition brought me to spirit roads of the Ming dynasty in Beijing and Nanjing, the Tang and Han dynasties near Xian, the Northern Sung dynasty near Gongxian and the Southern Sung dynasty near Nanjing.

My search for stone sculptures continued to the Buddhist caves. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, 460 to 494 AD, the Yungang Caves were cut into the Southern cliffs of the highest part of the Wuzhoushan sandstone range. These caves contain over 50 thousand statues and number greater than fifty.