The Giant Buddha Temple in Zhangye city, about 600 kilometers west of Gansu's provincial capital Lanzhou, is named after a statue worshiped inside. The temple is very famous because it contains the biggest indoor sleeping Buddha in all of China. The Buddha is 34.5long and its shoulder spans across a width of 7.5 meters. Up to eight people can stand on the ear of the reclining Buddha.
Legend has it that anamed Wei Mie of the Western Xia period ordered workers to dig into the ground to 1 to 1.3 meters deep to carve a reclining Buddha to be covered with glazed color tiles. The Giant Buddha Temple was built in 1098 to house the Buddha. In its 900 years the temple was restored many times during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Giant Buddha Temple covers an area of about 23000 square meters, facing west. The existing architectures in the Giant Buddha Temple are the Giant Buddha Hall, the Buddhist Classics Hall and the Clay Pagoda.