Our first few days were spent with family in Changzhou, which is a third-tier city with a population of around 5 million. It is definitely not a tourist destination, and there are very few foreigners there.
One of their few tourist sites is the Tianning Temple, which is the tallest wooden pagoda in the world.
Tianning Temple
There are many Buddha statues of all sizes inside the temple – over a thousand, I believe. Plus lots of other carvings and statues. It was quite interesting to go through.
Larry at Tianning Temple in Changzhou
Golden statue, Tianning Temple
Of course, we did climb to the top for a nice view of the surrounding area.
View from Tianning Temple
The temple area and gardens were lovely to walk through.
Tianning Temple grounds, Changzhou
Gardens at Tianning Temple in Changzhou
The next day we went to Wuxi to visit the Mt. Lingshan Grand Buddhist Area. This is basically more of a Buddha theme park than a religious site. The Lingshan Grand Buddha is the tallest bronze Buddha in the world (88 meters), and one of the largest Buddhas of any type. If you look very closely at the photo below, you might be able to see people standing at Buddha’s feet at the hem of his robes, just above the lotus petals.
Mt. Lingshan Grand Buddha
Baby Buddhas
We didn’t have time to visit the entire park, but we did go to the Brahma Palace which was quite impressive both on the outside,
Brahma Palace at Lingshan Grand Buddha area
and on the inside. (Portions available for booking your meeting or special event, of course.)
Interior of Lingshan Brahma Palace
Dome in Lingshan Brahma Palace
The gardens were lovely as well.
Lingshan Grand Buddha tourist area, Wuxi
Our last tour stop of this segment was the Nanshan Bamboo Forest. This is not where “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was filmed, but it isn’t far.
Nanshan Bamboo Forest
We of course, saw lots of bamboo.
Nanshan Bamboo Forest
But the main reason we went there was for the Giant Pandas. They have two there.
Giant Panda at Nanshing Bamboo Forest
CabledSheep 
The pictures from your trip continue to amaze. The dome in the temple and the panda are stunning!
I’m glad there are people in your photos, otherwise it would be hard for me to appreciate the immensity of some of these wonders. I had no idea that something like a Buddha theme park even existed! Thanks for sharing your trip; I’m hoping there might be more!
The Grand Buddha is really big – 288 feet tall. As a comparison, the Statue of Liberty (just the statue itself, not the pedestal) is 151 feet. With the pedestal, it’s 305 feet.