Lu Lin, a local official in charge of the 1,280-year-old cultural heritage, said the repairs to the statue are part of a massive maintenance project which is expected to cost an estimated 250 million yuan (about US$30 million), including US$2 million in World Bank loans.

The face-lift is expected to last until the end of August, he said.

The statue, which was put on the United Nations' World Cultural Heritage list in 1996, has been weathered by wind, water and acid rain as well as being damaged by visitors for years. Some of the curls on the head of the statue have broken off and the face has lost its color.

Experts have cleaned the body of the statue and filled in the cracks. They will install drainage devices and protection against wind and water.

The cliff-top Buddha is 71 meters tall and 28 meters wide.

It is 18 meters higher than the destroyed Buddha statue at Bamian Valley, Afghanistan, once thought to be the tallest in the world.

The head of the Leshan Buddha is 14.7 meters in length and 10 meters across. It is covered with 1,021 curls, each of which is large enough to support a big round table.

Each ear is seven meters long, can hold two people in its opening. Over a 100 people can sit on the 8.5-meter-high flat and smooth instep.

Carving of the Buddha started in AD 713 and was completed in 803, during the prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty in Chinese history.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2002)