Mount Emei and the Leshan Giant Buddha were jointly inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 — one of the few Chinese nominations that bundled a Buddhist sacred mountain with a separately located monument. The Leshan Buddha itself was carved from a clifface over the Tang dynasty, begun in 713 AD under the monk Haitong, who reportedly gouged out his own eyes to demonstrate sincerity to donors. Construction ran 90 years and outlasted him entirely.
This brass 5 Yuan belongs to the ongoing World Heritage series the People's Bank launched to systematically document China's UNESCO sites in circulating commemorative form.
Mount Emei and the Leshan Giant Buddha were jointly inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 — one of the few Chinese nominations that bundled a Buddhist sacred mountain with a separately located monument. The Leshan Buddha itself was carved from a clifface over the Tang dynasty, begun in 713 AD under the monk Haitong, who reportedly gouged out his own eyes to demonstrate sincerity to donors. Construction ran 90 years and outlasted him entirely.
This brass 5 Yuan belongs to the ongoing World Heritage series the People's Bank launched to systematically document China's UNESCO sites in circulating commemorative form.