The Grand Buddha is 71 meters high, carved into a cliff face overlooking the confluence of the Dadu and Min rivers. It qualifies as the largest Buddha in the world, with the one at Bamian, Afghanistan, as runner-up (besides, the Leshan model is sitting down). The Buddha's ears are 7 meters long, insteps 8.5 meters broad, and a picnic could be conducted on the nail of his big toe, which is 1.5 meters long-the toe itself is 8.5 meters long.

This lunatic project was begun in the year 713 AD, engineered by a Buddhist monk called Haitong who organized fund raising and hired workers; it was completed 90 years later. Below the Buddha was a hollow where boatmen used to vanish-Haitong hoped that the Buddha's presence would subdue the swift currents and protect the boatmen, and the Buddha did do a lot of good, as the surplus rocks from the sculpting filled the river hollow. Haitong gouged out his own eyes in an effort to protect funding from disappearing into the hands of officers, but he died before the completion of his life's work. A building used to shelter the giant statue, but it was destroyed during a Ming Dynasty war.

Inside the body, hidden from view, is a water-drainage system to prevent weathering, although the stone statue has been its fair share. Dafo is so old that foliage is trying to reclaim him-flowers growing on the giant hands, a bushy chest, ferms in his topknots, and weeds winding out of his earholes. He gazes down, perhaps in alarm, at the drifting pollutions in the river that presumably come from the paper mill at the industrial end of town.

Wuyou Temple

The monastery dates, like the Grand Buddha, from the Tang Dynasty with Ming and Qing renovations; it's a museum piece containing calligraphy, painting and artefacts, and commands panoramoic views. Wuyou also has a hall of 1000 arhats, terracotta monks displaying an incredible variety of postures and facial expressions-no two are alike!

Grand Buddha Temple

The temple is sits near Buddha's head. From here you can catch views of Buddha's head, have a picture taken of you sticking your finger in his ear and walk down a narrow staicase to reach his feet.