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Leshan Giant Buddha
The Giant Buddha is situated on the east bank of Minjiang River in Leshan City, Sichuan Province. It is the biggest stone Buddha in the world.
The Minjiang River that originates from the Grand Snow Mountain in northern Sichuan joins the Daduhe River and the Qingyijiang River in Leshan city, where it becomes a wide and inundant river, causing terrible havoc to life and property of local people very often in ancient time. Monk Fatong from the Tang Dynasty realized that the flowage in every flood season was done by the water sprite, so he managed to raise money to build this huge statue in order to repress the water sprite and protect the local people. The construction was begun in 713 and after several interruptions it was finally completed in 803, the 19th year of the reign of the Tang Emperor Dezhong.
Standing at 70.7 meters high with shoulders 24 meters wide, the giant stone Buddha is an impressive sight. It looks calm, peaceful and majestic. A water drainage system that is still in working order reduces erosion by rain and slows weathering. To the right of the statue a plank road with nine turns was built and it is now famous as the nine-turn plank road that goes from the bottom to the top.
It is included in the UNESCO world heritage list in 1996.
