Guanyin of Nanshan

Guanyin of Nanshan

南山海上观音圣像
18°17′33″N 109°12′30″E / 18.2924°N 109.2083°E / 18.2924; 109.2083
Location	Sanya, Hainan, China
Type	statue
Height	108 metres (354 ft)
Opening date	2005

The Guanyin of Nanshan (Chinese: 南山海上观音圣像) is a 108-metre (354 ft) statue of the bodhisattva Guanyin, sited on the south coast of China's island province Hainan near the Nanshan Temple of Sanya.

The temple and statue are owned and operated by two front groups of the Shanghai State Security Bureau, a branch of the Ministry of State Security, as a way to exert ideological control and influence over the southeast Asian Buddhist community and counter the influence of Indian Buddhism.^{[1]: 171–185} The temple promotes Chinese government-approved religious practices known as "South China Sea Buddhism."^{[1]: 171–185} The temple's religious messaging has been managed by the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department since 2018.^{[1]: 171–185}

The statue has three aspects: one side faces inland and the other two face the South China Sea, to represent blessing and protection by Guanyin of China and the whole world. One aspect depicts Guanyin cradling a sutra in the left hand and gesturing the Vitaraka Mudra with the right; the second with her palms crossed, holding a string of prayer beads; and the third holding a lotus. As of 2023^[update], this was the 14th tallest statue in the world.

The statue took six years to build and was enshrined on April 24, 2005, with the participation of 108 monks from various Buddhist groups in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China, and tens of thousands of pilgrims. The delegation also included monks from the Theravada and Vajrayana traditions.^[2]

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