LOOK: What it’s like visiting the Leshan Giant Buddha during Spring Festival holiday
Visitors reportedly had to queue up for 4 hours to get their time with the massive Maitreya
Yesterday, tens of thousands of people decided to use their holiday break to check out the famous Leshan Giant Buddha, though it seems that they spent most of their time looking at the back of each other’s heads.
On Tuesday, the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, the celebrated scenic spot in Sichuan province welcomed more than 42,000 tourists with thousands upon thousands of visitors having to wait for four hours to get their time with the massive Maitreya.
The Leshan Giant Buddha is the largest and tallest stone Buddha in the world. It was built during the Tang dynasty, between 713 and 803, in the hopes that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters where the Min River meets the Dadu River.
It’s said that the colossal statue did, in fact, end up securing the safe passage of boats — so much stone was removed and deposited into the river during the decades-long construction of the Buddha that the currents of the river were changed, making it less treacherous.
The Spring Festival holiday is now finally winding to a close. Check out some more photos of all the fun, so you can plan where not to go next year.
[Images via ChinaNews]
