CHINA/AFGHANISTAN: A CHINESE ENTREPRENEUR RECONSTRUCTS IN CHINA ONE OF THE BAMIYAN BUDDHAS DESTROYED BY THE TALIBAN

Record ID: 753112

  • Title: CHINA/AFGHANISTAN: A CHINESE ENTREPRENEUR RECONSTRUCTS IN CHINA ONE OF THE BAMIYAN BUDDHAS DESTROYED BY THE TALIBAN
  • Date: 1st October 2001
  • Summary: LESHAN, SICHUAN PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) MVS WORKERS CHIPPING AT RED STONE TO RECREATE HUGE REPLICA BAMIYAN BUDDHA IN THE ORIENTAL BUDDHA CITY PARK, WORKING AT THE LEVEL OF THE BUDDHA'S ALREADY RECREATED FACE CU SLEDGEHAMMER BANGING HUGE NAILS TO BREAK UP STONE LAS WORKERS HACKING AT STONE CU HAND BANGING NAIL INTO STONE SV WORKER BANGING NAIL INTO STONE SLV WORKERS PERCHED ON HUGE VALLEY WHICH WILL BE CARVED INTO BUDDHA'S BODY
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LESHAN, SICHUAN PROVINCE, CHINA AND BAMIYAN VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN
  • City:
  • Country: Afghanistan China
  • Topics: Arts,History,Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8G1UIYG5XGQOW01G0P81RRU5F
  • Story Text: A Chinese entrepreneur has begun a giant project in the heartland of Chinese Buddhism to resurrect one of the Bamiyan Buddhas recently destroyed by Afghanistan's Taliban leaders despite a worldwide outcry.
    Life-size and with a new face, China's version of the destroyed Afghan Bamiyan Buddha is now under construction.
    The huge project is the brainchild of Chinese entrepreneur Liang Simian (pronounced Leeang-shee-meeann), who began work a month after the Taliban regime blasted two towering sandstone Buddhas off the face of a cliff in the Afghan desert in March.
    It's no easy task. Even with 375 workers cutting and carving around the clock, the 37-metre (121 feet) high sculpture won't be finished until March next year.
    Liang and his team are determined to use age-old methods to create the 600,000 US dollar Buddha. There will be no rock blasting of the valley involved and workers will only use traditional tools.
    Hundreds of years ago, the collosal Bamiyan statues drew Buddhist pilgrims and merchants who plied the Silk Road.
    In March, Afghanistan's Taliban rulers destroyed the statues -- which towered 53 metres and 37 metres -- because their strict interpretation of Islamic law prohibits statues, art and visual representations of non-Islamic deities.
    The massive idols were hewn out of sandstone cliffs in the Afghan desert about 500 years ago.
    The new Bamiyan Buddha will be the centre piece of Liang's Oriental Buddha City, a tourist park which already houses more than 3,000 replicas of Buddha statues from all over the world.
    The huge statue has been specially located according to the ancient Chinese traditions of fengshui in a lush valley facing the fast flowing Min river.
    "We have created our Bamiyan Buddha to face mountains and a river, opposite it is a really wide open piece of land which is green with mountains and water. Of course, I believe that the Bamiyan Buddha will prefer this place far more than the desert," Liang Siming said.
    The Bamiyan buddha is located about one kilometre away from the world's largest ancient Buddha -- the Dafo, or Big Buddha -- built 12 centuries ago and measuring 71-metres tall.
    The Oriental Buddha City is not top of the list for tourists who flock to tiny Leshan town from all over the world to visit the 10-story Big Buddha and wealth of Buddhist temples on nearby Mount Emei.
    Liang, who used to work at the Grand Buddha tourist site, is hoping that his Bamiyan Buddha will draw more tourists to the park.
    Most Chinese people visiting the Buddha park support the recreation of the Bamiyan Buddha.
    "I don't think it's a problem -- copies are sometimes larger and more detailed than the orginals. Our country likes to protect religion and looking at these is the same as visiting the originals. But, if I had the opportunity to see the original it would be better. I hope I'll get the chance,"
    Zhang Jiang (pronounced djeeang-jeeang), visitor to the Oriental Buddha City said.
    The Chinese version seeks to improve on the original, with a newly designed face, based on various Afghan Buddha faces from the same period.
    A group of sculpture professors from the Sichuan Art Academy, including He Yining are in charge of recreating the Buddha's face.
    "The lower part of the Buddha's face is in accordance with the remains of the orginal Buddha. But the details on the face are definitely different from the orginal. We found Afghan Buddha busts from the same period and then created from them the top of the face. So, we can say that this is basically an Afghan buddha from that period," He Yining (pronounced her-ee-neen) said.
    The original Buddha lost its nose, mouth and eyes to Afghanistan's desert winds centuries ago.
    With the efforts of diligent craftsmen, the Bamiyan Buddha will now be able to live on for many more centuries in the heartland of Chinese Buddhism.
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