Jade Buddha Palace

The Jade Buddha Palace in 219 Park houses what credibly claims to be the world's largest carved jade Buddha — nearly eight metres tall, four metres deep, and weighing more than two hundred and sixty tonnes. The statue was carved from a single piece of Xiuyan jade and installed in a purpose-built thirty-three-metre pavilion. Regardless of what you think about superlatives, the object itself is genuinely extraordinary: the colour of the jade, the scale of the carving, and the ambition of the project combine to produce something that rewards close attention.

The surrounding park — named for the February 19, 1948 date of the People's Liberation Army's liberation of Anshan — offers pleasant walking between the various halls and gardens. The Jade Buddha statue is the centrepiece, but the complex includes several other halls, ponds, and pavilions that make a half-day visit worthwhile. Admission fees apply to the main pavilion.

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The jade used for this statue was discovered in 1960 in Xiuyan County, about 80 kilometres east of Anshan, and was declared a state treasure by Premier Zhou Enlai. It took 120 sculptors eighteen months to carve, and the 33-metre building constructed to house it represents the 33 layers of Buddhist heaven. The jade stone itself weighs 260 tonnes — moving it from the quarry to the city required specialised engineering at a scale that would have challenged any era.