3 Days in Ziyang

From Ziyang North station, start at the riverside park honoring three ancient Ziyang notables, then the roughly 22-metre Tang-carved Buddha at Banyueshan, half an hour south of town. Evening on the Tuojiang embankment.

1. ziyang sanxian culture park
2. ziyang banyueshan buddha
3. ziyang tuojiang riverside

About 1.5 hours by road, as Anyue has no rail yet. On Yunju Hill the Song cave takes its name from twelve bodhisattva images, with the tomb of the Taoist sage Chen Tuan in the same grounds; some 40 minutes north of the county town, the Tang reclining Buddha at Woyuan stretches 23 metres and nearby caves hold over 400,000 carved sutra characters.

1. ziyang yuanjue cave
2. ziyang wofoyuan grottoes

An hour's drive southeast to Shiyang town, where the Northern Song Purple Bamboo Guanyin stands about 3 metres tall in her relaxed, one-leg-dangling pose — praised by Han Suyin as the Venus of the East. Nearby Huayan Cave, about 6 metres high and 10 metres wide, holds three figures roughly 5 metres tall. Road back to Ziyang North for the half-hour train toward Chengdu.

1. ziyang piludong grottoes
2. ziyang huayan cave