The capital of top quality jade, Xiuyan, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, now has another claim to fame: the world's largest jade carving.

The giant sculpture, known as "Beautiful Landscape on the Cliff", is nearly three meters tall and two and a half meters wide, and weighs nearly 11 tons.

Gnarled pines and exquisite pavilions perched on the edge of a plunging cliff highlight the work's beauty and formidable size. The designer combined traditional carving crafts and modern science to create the work.

The sculpture has been hollowed out to allow an atomizer to be placed inside which transforms the natural spring water into a mist that shrouds the jade masterpiece in a fine and shifting haze.

(CCTV.com March 24, 2004)