The Lingshan Grand Buddha is an 88 meter high statue, towering over the hills at the base of Majishan Mountain and the thousand year old Buddhist Xiangfu Temple that sits nearby. It was constructed in 1996, and is the tallest bronze Buddha in the world. He is standing in a Sakyamuni pose, carved with a number of symbols representing mercy and happiness.
A long boulevard leading up to the statue is flanked by numerous Buddhist sculptures and artifacts, including a reflecting pool, around which crouch bronze dragons and lions. Four times a day the Buddha's birth is remembered when a huge bronze lotus opens up to reveal a rotating statue of the baby Buddha and the lions start spraying jets of water from their open mouths.
A ''spare'' hand for the Buddha lies halfway to the completed statue. This bronze limb was left on the edge of the site while the statue was being constructed. Before long, the gigantic palm had become the subject of devotions and the administrators decided to have another identical one cast to finish the statue, leaving the original in place. Sitting next to the disembodied hand, is a bronze Maitreya - the Buddha of the future - whose big belly is used as a climbing frame by dozens of bronze babies symbolizing the wish for a happy and prosperous future.
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