Discover Chengdu
Leshan Giant Buddha
乐山大佛
A 71-metre Buddha carved into a red cliff at the confluence of three rivers between 713 and 803 AD, still the largest stone Buddha on earth. A UNESCO site and an easy high-speed-rail day trip from Chengdu.
The story
What makes this place special
The Buddha was begun under the monk Haitong, who believed an image of Maitreya would quieten the lethal currents at the confluence of three rivers below. Construction ran through the Tang dynasty; sources differ, giving a start between 712 and 722 and completion in 803 or 804. The story that Haitong gouged out his own eyes to prove his sincerity when officials threatened the funding is traditional rather than documented. Work stopped at his death and was finished by his disciples with official backing. At 71 metres seated, with hair about 14.7 metres tall and ears around 7 metres long, it is the largest stone Buddha in the world, and the spoil tipped into the river from carving it did in fact calm the current. It is part of the Mount Emei World Heritage listing of 1996.
What you’ll discover
The visit is a one-way loop around and down the cliff. You arrive at head height, where you are level with the hair and can see the hidden drainage channels cut into the hair, collar and chest and the drain holes in the ears and back that have kept the stone from rotting for twelve centuries. Then you descend the Nine Bend Plank Road, a narrow stepped stair cut into the cliff face beside the Buddha, to the feet at river level - the toes alone are large enough to stand several people on - and climb out up the other side. The grounds also hold Lingyun Temple, the Wuyou Temple on the neighbouring hill with its hall of arhats, and the Mahao cliff tombs.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- The stair is the bottleneck and it is one-way, single-file, with no overtaking. In high season the queue to start the descent can run to two or three hours while the rest of the park is near empty. Get into the park at opening and go straight to the stair before anything else.
- If the queue is impossible, take the river boat instead. It gives you the one view the land route cannot - the whole figure at once, from the water, as it was meant to be seen - and the boats take about half an hour. Many visitors who have done both say the boat is the better view and the stair is the better experience.
- Do not skip Wuyou Temple on the far hill. It is reached across a bridge, has an excellent hall of five hundred arhats, and almost no one walks over to it.
- Carry water and nothing bulky. The stair is enclosed, hot and airless in summer and you cannot turn back once committed.
- There is a second, much larger reclining Buddha to look for: the hills on the far bank are read as a sleeping Buddha with the Giant Buddha at its heart, and the view is from the river or the opposite bank, not from inside the park.
When to come
Early morning, and ideally outside July and August. The site is a south-facing cliff in one of China's hottest, most humid basins and the stair is brutal in summer heat; it is also the peak domestic season. Autumn and spring are far better, and winter is quiet and often misty.
Getting around
The cliff descent is impossible for anyone with mobility limits - it is hundreds of narrow, steep, uneven stone steps hewn into a rock face, single-file, one-way, with a drop on one side. There is no lift and no alternative. The upper park, the head-height viewing terrace and Lingyun Temple are reachable on paved paths with some steps and shuttle carts serve parts of the park, so a visitor who cannot do stairs can see the Buddha's head and shoulders from above. For the full figure, use the river boat, which involves a gangway and steps onto the vessel but no climbing.
Worth knowing before you go
The cliff staircase down past the Buddha's feet (the Nine-Bend Plank Road) is one-way with queues that routinely exceed an hour. If you only want the view, the river boat gives you the whole figure head-on in 30 minutes.
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