Lingshan Grand Buddha

The Lingshan Buddha was completed in 1997 on a hillside above Lake Tai at the site of a Tang temple, a standing Sakyamuni of eighty-eight metres cast in bronze in some sixteen hundred pieces and assembled on a lotus base, among the tallest Buddha statues in the world. Visitors climb over two hundred steps to the base and can enter the statue. Around it the complex includes the Nine Dragons bathing Sakyamuni fountain, which opens on a schedule to reveal a golden infant Buddha rising as water jets play, and the Brahma Palace, a large ceremonial hall completed in 2008 with heavily decorated interiors of lacquer, glass and murals used for Buddhist forums.

What you actually see

• The bronze Buddha - eighty-eight metres standing above the lake.
• The Nine Dragons fountain - the timed water display revealing a golden figure.
• The Brahma Palace - the elaborately decorated modern ceremonial hall.
• The lake setting - Taihu spread out below the hillside.

When to go

March to May and September to November; the fountain display runs to a posted schedule several times daily, and timing a visit around it matters. Buddhist festivals bring large crowds.

Honest expectations

Everything here is modern, built from the 1990s onward, which disappoints visitors expecting antiquity. The site is large with a lot of walking and stairs. Entry is expensive by Chinese standards.

Nearby

Yuantouzhu lies along the same shore; Wuxi is east.