Xinchang Great Buddha Temple(大佛寺) is located in valley between Nanming Mountain and Shicheng Mountain, roughly in the southwest part of Xinchang County, a south part of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang province. The whole scenic area is mainly comprised of The Great Buddha Temple, Qiguangjingyuan Monastery(栖光净院, literally translated as Purity Monastery of Perching Light), Huayan Nunnery (华严庵, literally translated as Honorable and Grand Nunnery named after a famous Buddhist sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, which translated into Hua Yan Jing in Chinese ) and City God Temple(城隍庙, a Taoist god indeed) . It is famous for a big stone statue of Smiling Buddha or Maitreya Buddha, also known as The No.1 Giant Buddha in East China. In China, it is as famous as the Giant Buddha statue in Leshan Mountain, Sichuan province, which has been written into the list of World Heritage Sites. Xinchang Great Buddha Temple has more than 1600 years of history, originally built in the period from 345 to 350. The site of Great Buddha Temple was a grotto. In 486, the great Buddha statue construction begun, and with more than 30 years of efforts, this big Buddha statue was completed. In 345, Tan Guang, a respectable monk, was amazed at the beauty of this area and came here also under the influence of Monk Zhudun and Monk Daoqian, both of who led a reclusive life in east Zhejiang province. And the original name of Great Buddha Temple was Yinyue Temple (隐岳寺), and currently is one of the national key temples and ranked Four-A scenic area.

In 845, a three-floor building was completed. In Qing Dynasty, the whole building extended to five floors, and a bridge called Wuliang Bridge(无量桥) was also built. The main building of Great Buddha Temple opposite to the hill is comprised of five stories, seen from the frontage. The huge Buddha statue sitting in the middle of the hall is carved out on the cliff with more than 30 years. It was the masterpiece of grotto statues in early period of Jiangnan region. The seat of Buddha statue is 2.4 meters high. And the total height is 13.2 meters and width 15.9 meters. The distance between two knees is 10.6 meters, and ear length is 2.7 meters. Two palms are upwards and crossed. The area of the palm can hold more than 10 men. On the northwest side of Great Buddha Temple, there is a small temple named Qianfo Temple or Thousand-Buddha Temple. It has approximately 1,000 statues of Buddha. Each of them is roughly 7 inches long and 5 inches wide. All of them seems life-like, and also represents the ancient Craftworks. Furthermore, the Largest Lying Buddha Statue in Asia is set in Wofo Hall. This building was established in 2003. The statue is carved in accordance with the form of the original rock. The main buildings of Xinchang Great Buddha Temple also include The Heavenly King Hall, Western Hall, Grand Hall of The Great Sage, Great Buddha Hall, Sutra Library, Yinhe Tower and Earth Store Bodhisattva.

Arhat Cave is 38 meters wide and 22 meters deep. In the cave, there are diversity of statues of arhats and bodhisattvas. In front of the cave, there is a hill-size smiling Buddha statue. This statue was carved as the shape of the rock. The statue is 30 meters high, and there are 6 small smiling Buddha statues nearby this big one.

Xinchang Great Buddha Temple has a high reputation in China Buddhism and used to be one of the Buddhism study and prevalence centers. By the way, Xinchang Great Buddha Temple Scenic Area also acts as a National Geopark. It has the world’s largest wood fossil forest and Volcanic Tuff Ball roughly formed 100 million years ago.