The world's largest jade statue of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy
in Buddhist legend, will be erected in the city of Zhangzhou, east
China's Fujian
Province.
With a height of 12 meters and weight of 219 tons, the statue
was carved out of a 399-ton natural jade bought from Myanmar by
overseas Chinese businessmen.
Lin Canghui, general designer of Tiancheng Touring Development
Co. Ltd., which is responsible for making the statue, said the jade
Guanyin statue, worth at least one billion yuan (about US$120
million), will be erected at the city's scenic spot of
Tianchengshan in October.
Lin said skillful craftsmen spent one and half year to design,
carve and polish this world's largest jade statue of Guanyin, the
most familiar goddess to the Chinese people.
Currently, the statue has already been preserved in the city but
its lotus pedestal, also made of jade and weighs more than 100
tons, are still in Myanmar.
(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2006)
