Quake damages China's famous sleeping Buddha statue

BEIJING (AFP) Nov 09, 2003
China's largest indoor sleeping Buddha statue was damaged in two earthquakes that recently rocked Zhangye city in the northwestern province of Gansu, state media said Sunday.

The statue, which is about 35 meters (115 feet) long and 7.5 meters broad at the shoulders, draws large numbers of tourists.

Experts recently noticed the base of the statue had sunk and the stomach had a crack nine meters long and one centimeter wide, the Xinhua news agency said.

The temple housing the statue also has cracks in the walls, said Deng Kun, curator of the Zhangye Municipal Museum.

The damage was noticed after earthquakes measuring 6.1 and 5.8 on the Richter scale hit areas of Zhangye City on October 25.

Ten people were killed and more than 40 injured by the quakes, which destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes, official reports say.

Built in 1098, the temple housing the statue also contains a rare Buddhist scripture written in gold and silver powder in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

TERRA.WIRE