Chinese grottoes coloring book debuts for holiday

Tourists to central China's Longmen Grottoes during the National Day holiday will be able to take home souvenirs of the site's famed Buddhist art in a new coloring book.

Inspired by the best-selling coloring book "Secret Garden" by Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford, the cultural preservationists at Longmen Grottoes hope tourists can learn about the Chinese World Heritage Site while indulging their artistic side.

The 1,500-year-old attraction has more than 2,300 grottoes with 110,000 Buddhist figures and images, over 80 dagobas and 2,800 inscribed tablets on cliffs along a one-kilometer stretch of the Yishui River.

The book designed by Longmen Grottoes Research Institute highlights eight sets of the most representative paintings from the grottoes, said Yu Ying, head of the Longmen Grottoes Scenic Area Administration Commission.

"The colors of most Buddhist images in the grottoes have faded after more than 1,000 years of weathering. We invite readers to create their own versions of the images dating back to the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-557) and Tang Dynasty (618-907)," said Yu.

The commission launched online services on messaging app Wechat in June, jointly developed with Chinese Internet giant Tencent, so tourists can book tickets online and share travel advice.

Yu hopes that with these efforts, China's cultural preservation can avoid traditional lecture-based education through interaction with the public.

The commission published the book at the start of China's week-long National Day holiday, which began Thursday. The holiday is considered China's best travel season.

More than 532 million domestic trips are expected to be made from Oct. 1 to 7. Unlike the Spring Festival in winter, when most people return to their hometowns, the National Day holiday, with its mild autumn weather, is favored for leisure travel and sightseeing tours. Endi