[Hmwmzian]

2012-05-19 16:26
( Xinhua)



TAIYUAN - A multi-million-yuan project that helps to shore up the country's oldest cliff-carved Buddha statue is to kick off
before the end of June in north China's Shanxi Province. The 74 million yuan work will focus on consolidating mines around
the Mengshan Buddha, which was once in danger of collapsing, according to Taiyuan city's land resources bureau.

The 1,461-year-old Buddha statue was carved on a cliff face on Mengshan Mountain in the year 551, during China's Northern
and Southern Dynasties. It is believed to be 162 years older than the world's largest sitting stone sculpture of the Buddha in
Leshan, Sichuan province.

The Mengshan Buddha, 63 meters tall, was discovered in the 1980s with parts of it lost or buried in silt and rubbles. Continuous
mining in the area led to geological disasters including landslides, ground collapses and fissures, leaving the giant statue in danger
of collapse. It was opened to tourists in 2008 after repair.

The Mengshan Buddha statue is more than 20 km southwest to Taiyuan, the provincial capital.