The 600-year-old Buddha statue floats on the lake causing fever

A 600-year-old Buddha statue has just been discovered in a lake in Jiangxi Province, East China after the lake receded during the reclamation process.

The information was reported by Xinhua on January 16. Accordingly, a local person was the first to discover the first part of the Buddha statue last month when the water level in the lake fell more than 10m. From the visible part of the statue you can see the statue carved on the cliff.

The 600-year-old Buddha has just been discovered in a lake in Jiangxi Province, eastern China.(Photo: CCTV).

Local people and many tourists come as soon as they get more information to discover this Buddha statue. They thought it was a good omen.

Archaeological experts say the statue may be from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

"The original study of the statue shows that it could be built early in the Ming Dynasty, or perhaps earlier, from the Yuan Dynasty" - Mr. Xu Changqin, Director of the Archaeological Research Institute of Jiangxi Province, tell CNN.

The statue is also likely to be part of an unearthed archaeological work. The foundation of a temple is also found under the water. Local residents believe that this lake may be the ruins of an ancient town called Xiaoshi .

Mr. Xu said the underwater archeology team was studying both the old town and the statue.

According to the expert, it was the sinking of the water that helped the statue with fine lines to suddenly be well preserved.

Buddha image appeared during the process of lake reclamation.(Photo: CCTV).

"If not preserved in the water, the statue may have been weathered, oxidized or other risk of destruction" - Mr. Xu said.

The statue is about 3.8m tall and carved into a cliff. Guan Zhiyong, a local official told Xinhua that the Buddha statue was made by the ancients as a spiritual protection to deal with the fast flow when the two rivers flowed.

The statue sunk in the water in 1960 when it built the Hongmen Lake , Xu said. The Buddha statue emerges has evoked many memories of some local elderly people.

82-year-old Huang Keping, a local resident, said he saw the Buddha statue for the first time in 1952. "I remember that the statue was gilded," said Huang.