Dafo Monastery

According to some sources, this monastery, which covers an area of around 400 mu (about 27 hectares), is the largest Buddhist monastery in China. It was built during the Ming Dynasty at a site in the city's eastern suburbs. It was best known for a 12-metre-high bronze statue of Avalokiteśvara that is said to have had a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. During the Great Leap Forward campaign (1958-1962), the statue was melted down and the original buildings were destroyed. This new version of the monastery, which opened in 2008, is in the city's south.