The gold-plated Giant Buddha lies in the Nirvana position in the middle of the hall. One can easily take a sound nap on the Buddha's finger, and his ear is big enough for eight people to sit side by side!

Entering Gansu Province in northwest China, the best-blossom-finding journey took us to the famous "Hexi Corridor", an important strategic passage along the ancient Silk Road stretching to the west.

Although I've never set foot on Gansu before, the first sight of the scenes of the grassland, the Gobi desert, and snow-covered mountains immediately won my affection to this mysterious land.

Following the provincial capital of Lanzhou, our second stop of the journey along the Silk Road was the historical city of Zhangye in the province.

Zhangye is situated at the central part of the Hexi Corridor and was known as Ganzhou in the past. It is also regarded as a granary in the region. Though we spent not much time here, we managed to visit its center place, the mysterious Giant Buddha Temple which houses the largest well-preserved reclining Buddha in China.

Located in the southwest corner of Zhangye, the Giant Buddha Temple is the largest architectural heritage from the Western Xia Dynasty (1038-1227).

The Giant Buddha Hall, the Buddhist Classics Hall, and a Clay Pagoda together constitute the present complex, and I was utterly amazed by the huge reclining Buddha at my first sight.

The gold-plated and painted Giant Buddha lies in the Nirvana position in the middle of the hall. The whole Buddha is 34.5 meters long and 7.5 meters wide between its two shoulders. One can easily take a sound nap on the Buddha's finger, and his ear is big enough for eight people to sit side by side!

Not only the size of the Buddha is incredible, its calm expression also demonstrates great talent of the ancient people. The tour guide told us that when walking from the Buddha's head side to its feet side, one can notice that the Buddha's eye lids are gradually closing, from half open, to almost closed.

10 disciples stand behind the Buddha, and 18 Saint Warriors stand in two side halls. If you are a painting lover, you will greatly appreciate the halls covered in colorful murals depicting episodes from the ancient Chinese encyclopedia and from 'Journey to the West'.

The magnificent Giant Buddha Temple in Zhangye adds unique cultural and historical beauty onto our best-blossom-finding journey's itinerary.

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