"We don't have the cure-all to protect it from wind and acid rain damage yet. Regular skin care is the only way to keep it from aging, " said Wu Shengli, deputy director of the Leshan Buddha Statue scenic area administration.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences is researching materials to provide a new layer of "skin" to keep the 1200-year-old statue from deteriorating further.

The Buddha, located in southwest China's Sichuan Province, dates from 803 during the Tang Dynasty. Sitting on a cliff, the statue is 71 meters high from top to bottom, 18 meters higher than the standing Buddha statue at Bamian Valley, Afghanistan, once thought to be the tallest of its kind in the world.

"It's not easy to support a Buddha," said Wu, putting the cost of one facial for the statue at 200,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan (US$25,000 to 37,000), while a whole body makeover exceeds 2 million yuan (US$250,000).

The statue has received several facelifts in the past. But those renovations were small-scale compared with the latest project carried out last year which rejuvenated the ancient Buddha.

At a total cost of 250 million yuan (US$30 million), experts cleaned up the body of the statue, filled in the cracks, and installed drainage and conservation devices on the Buddha's face to protect it against wind and water.

Though some people say they have not got used to the Buddha's new look, and complain the face is "too young" for a 1200-year-oldstatue, experts agree that the facelift should help the Buddha survive several more centuries.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2002)