Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area

Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area, is a combined natural and cultural site in Sichuan province, China, that brings together a sacred Buddhist mountain complex and a monumental cliff-carved Buddha. The property represents both religious landscape and large-scale religious sculpture from imperial China.

On Mount Emei visitors encounter extensive temple complexes, pilgrimage routes and forested mountain scenery leading to the summit and the Golden Summit shrine area. The nearby Leshan Giant Buddha is a 71-metre seated statue cut into a river cliff at the confluence of rivers and draws both religious pilgrims and general visitors.

The Leshan statue was carved beginning in 713 during the Tang dynasty and completed over subsequent decades as a major civic and religious project. Mount Emei has been a place of Buddhist practice and pilgrimage for many centuries, with temples and monastic communities developing from medieval through imperial periods.

The two components lie in Sichuan province near the cities of Leshan and Emeishan, southwest of Chengdu. Both are accessible by regional road and rail links and are commonly visited together as part of regional cultural itineraries.

• Leshan size and date: The Leshan Giant Buddha is 71 metres high and was carved during the Tang dynasty beginning in 713, making it one of the largest stone Buddha sculptures in the world.
• Mount Emei summit: Mount Emei's summit rises to just over 3,000 metres and features a long-established Buddhist pilgrimage route with many temples spaced along the ascent.

What to See #

• Leshan Giant Buddha: A cliff-carved seated Buddha statue standing 71 metres tall, carved into the rock face at the confluence of three rivers during the Tang dynasty; the work was begun in the early 8th century and completed over the following decades.
• Mount Emei (including temples and Golden Summit): A sacred mountain with numerous temples and monasteries, including important complexes at lower elevations and the Golden Summit, which is a focal point for pilgrimage and offers panoramic views.
• Lower-elevation temples (e.g., Baoguo, Wannian): Notable temple complexes at lower elevations that serve as gateways for visitors and house historic Buddhist architecture and ritual objects dating from imperial Chinese periods.