Jade Buddha Court (yù fó yuàn 玉佛苑) is a famous attraction in Anshan City (ān shān shì 鞍山市). It is located in the middle of Jade Buddha Court Scenic Spot which covers an area of 40 thousand square meters, and is embraced by three mountains and leaving only one side facing water. It is formed by some special buildings with totally different styles which are harmoniously set and bring out the best in each other. The famous Jade Buddha is sitting here and it gains the reputation of the best one in the Guinness Record with its big setting and brightness. The set up of Jade Buddha Temple is a miracle of modern carving and architecture, it attracts millions of people every year. Jade Buddha Court Tour Guide Map

The Jade Buddha
The Jade Buddha sitting in the Cabinet was discovered in Xiuyan County (xiù yán xiàn 岫岩县) which is China’s jade hometown in1960 and it is caved out of a 7.265 meter high, 6.88 meter wide and 4.1 meter long “Jade King” with its weight of 260.76 ton. The front side of this Buddha is Sakyamuni and its back is the Goddess of Mercy.
 

During the carving of the jade, a lot of interesting things happened. The Jade King is a mixture of seven colors, and the color of each part cannot be detected even by modern technology. So they had to carve it by intuition. When it was done, people surprisingly found that the colors fit perfectly well, it is a marvelous combination of jade and Buddha! When they start to carve the right side of Bodisattva, a black dragon-like speckle appeared on the jade and then a black phoenix appeared right down of it. A dragon and a phoenix have very good moral meaning great luck.

Jade Buddha Palace
Jade Buddha Palace (yù fá gé 玉佛阁) is the major building of the Jade Buddha Court, it is 33 meters tall, representing the 33 layers of heaven in Buddhism, and it is the building that houses the Jade Buddha statue. It claims to be one the tallest buildings of ancient Chinese architectural style in China. There are three floors in the palace, on the first floor is the biggest jade Buddha in the world, on the second floor, visitors can have a holistic view of the giant jade Buddha, and on the third floor which is the sightseeing corridor, visitors can have a general view of the Anshan City.

Sharila Hall
Composed of Gateway, Chuihua Gate (chuí huā mén 垂花门), Sharira Hall and observation balcony, Sharira Hall is another major building. The gate of the building has carvings of 54 dragons and 24 lions, on the middle of which hangs a sign written “Yu Fo Yuan (yù fó yuàn 玉佛苑)”. There’s an observation balcony of 122 meters length and 10 meters width whose wall is made by 240 white marble with 392 vivid lion carvings. There also are two 3.3-meter high stone lions in front of the gate with fine workmanship.

Jade-Belt Bridge
Situated on the north of Jade Buddha Temple, Jade-Belt Bridge (yù dài qiáo 玉带桥) is a double-arched three-hole bridge imitating the ancient Chinese style. The 33-meter-long, 9-meter-wide, and 10-meter-high bridge is entirely white, and its overall shape is linear, gentle, and balanced, which from some distance, looks like a beautiful jade belt. There is a lotus lake and a life-release pond under the bridge. People believe that to release some water-relying living creatures and then, feed and place Buddhist spells on them would gain blessedness and longevity from Buddha.

Wuzi Tablets (The Unmarked Double Dragons Jade Tablets)
Wuzi tablets (wú zì bēi 无字碑) are entirely made of jade is rarely seen, and jade tablets without any literary inscriptions are even rarer. The mixture of jade and Buddha shows us so many miraculous phenomena that it is beyond word. Therefore, people set up a tablet with no word on it to let people feel and imagine the mysteries. The two light-green-colored tablets are all made of hsiuyen jade, and their pedestals are surrounded with white marble railings. The animal carrying the tablets is called Bixi (bì xì 赑屃), which is said to be one of the nine sons of a dragon. It has dragon’s head, lion’s nose, turtle’s body, eagle’s paw and snake’s tail. It is said that to touch the head of Bixi, one will never get stuck, to touch the back of Bixi, one will possess wealth in whole life, to touch the tail of Bixi, one will never regret for what he has done.

Address: No. 58 Luhua Street (lǜ huà jiē 绿化街) Tiedong District (tiě dōng qū 铁东区) Anshan City SHOW MAP
Transportation: Bus No.34 passes there. Or you can drive there according to the map.
Tel: 86-0412-5550382
Admission fee: CNY 70 (CNY 70 for a tour guide)
Opening hours: 8:00 to 17:00 (April to October) 8:00 to 16:30 (Other times)
Attractions nearby: 219 Park, Laodong Lake (láo dòng hú 劳动湖)