Holiday in Anshan

About Anshan

Anshan is located in the heart of Liaoning Province in northeastern China and is primarily known for two things: the largest jade reserves in the country and some of the best hot springs in East Asia. The city, whose name translates to Saddle Mountain, stretches between the Qianshan Mountains to the east and the Manchurian Plain to the west. The Jade Buddha Temple in Anshan Jade Valley houses the largest jade Buddha statue in the world — a 260-ton masterpiece carved from a single piece of Xiuyan jade. The statue, standing 7.95 meters tall, was entered into the Guinness Book of Records in 1996. The surrounding temple complex combines Buddhist architecture with the regional jade culture and attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year. The Tanggangzi hot springs, located just 15 kilometers south of the city center, have been used since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and are considered one of the oldest thermal spa facilities in China. The mineral-rich water, with temperatures between 48 and 72 °C, is said to be particularly effective for skin and joint ailments. Today, traditional bathhouses line up next to modern wellness resorts. The Qianshan Mountains (Thousand Lotus Flower Mountains) east of the city are a Taoist-Buddhist pilgrimage site with over 40 temples and monasteries scattered across picturesque granite peaks. The rock formation of the Natural Amitabha Buddha — a 70-meter-high rock outcrop resembling a seated Buddha — was only discovered in 1999 and has since become a significant pilgrimage destination. Anshan was once China's most important steel production site: The Ansteel plant, founded during the Japanese occupation and expanded in the 1950s with Soviet assistance, shaped the industrialization of northeastern China. Today, the city is transitioning from heavy industry to tourism and becoming a jade trading metropolis.