In 720 CE, the young poet Li Bai climbed to the summit of Mount Emei and immortalized it as a “fairy mountain.” Just a few dozen miles east, the construction of the Giant Buddha of Leshan was already seven years underway. Emei and the Giant Buddha traces these two monumental sites, both rooted in geological time and human imagination. Mount Emei, shaped over 800 million years, meets the spiritual ambition of the Leshan Buddha—carved by faith and engineering. Together, they form a sacred pair, embodying China’s awe for both nature and the divine.
