Carved into a river cliff over ninety years in the eighth century, the 71-metre seated Maitreya at Leshan is the largest stone Buddha in the world. It was built by a monk named Haitong who hoped the Buddha would calm the treacherous confluence of three rivers below — and the spoil rock dumped into the water during carving actually did.
You can experience it two ways: hike the plank staircase down the cliff face beside the statue (expect queues after 10am), or see the whole figure at once from a short river cruise. Doing the boat first and the climb after is the move most visitors wish they had known.