City In Brief

Leshan is on the southwest of Sichuan Province, covering an area of 20,000 square kilometers with a population of 6.59 million.

The land of Leshan descends from southwest to northeast with rich forest and water energy resources. Mineral deposits include rock salt, bittern, limestone, and saltpeter.

Tourists are attracted to Leshan for mainly two places of interest: Mt. Emei, one of the four holy Buddhist mountains in China, and Giant Buddha, the largest stone sculpture of Buddha in the world. It takes about 2.5 hours driving from Chengdu to Leshan and 30 minutes driving from Leshan to Mt. Emei.

The city has convenient road transportation facility. The Chengkun railway line (Chengdu to Kunming) runs through Leshan. Along the Min River, ferries can sail from Leshan to Yibin.

It is a major manufacturer of salt and a large hydropower base in the southwest of China. The Gongzui hydropower station on the Dadu River is a regional power grid.

Leshan is also one of the cities of Torch Relay in the Olympic Games of 2008.

To get to Leshan, you can start your travel from Chengdu, the provincial capital city of Sichuan Province, with 2.5 hours driving. Here we suggest one day for Giant Buddha only and two days for Giant Buddha plus Mt. Emei. You can take overnight bullet train to Chengdu from Beijing or Shanghai which takes around 16 hours.