Leshan Giant Buddha

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Mount Emei Scenic Area, Including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area, 1996); National 5A Tourist Attraction · Leshan, Sichuan

The largest stone Buddha in the world: a 71-metre seated Maitreya carved into the red sandstone cliff of Lingyun Hill, where the Min, Dadu and Qingyi rivers meet below the city of Leshan. The monk Haitong began it in 713 hoping the Buddha would calm the deadly currents that wrecked river boats, and the work took about ninety years, finishing in 803. The Buddha's ears are about 7 metres long, and a hidden system of drainage channels in the hair and robes has slowed erosion for twelve centuries. Visitors see it from the head at the clifftop Lingyun Temple, down the narrow Nine-Turn Plank Road to its feet, or from a boat on the river. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Mount Emei Scenic Area and about 40 minutes from Chengdu by high-speed train.

Lingyun Hill, Shizhong District, Leshan, Sichuan, China

Daily, roughly 7:30-18:00 in April-October and 8:00-17:30 in November-March; last entry about an hour before closing. Boats run through the day, weather and river levels permitting.

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