CHENGDU: The world's largest sitting Buddha is being destroyed by acid rain.

The Leshan Giant Buddha in Leshan, Southwest China's Sichuan, is 1,204 years old and was only given a facelift in 2001.

But it seems it could already do with another one.

It is a good visual example of the damage caused by acid rain, which costs the agricultural Sichuan economy billions of yuan each year in crop damage.

Retired worker Liu Zhaoxu visited the Buddha last week. His last visit was just after the 2001 facelift.The 77-year-old said the Buddha "had many black and gray stains on its face and body in contrast to its cleanliness during my first visit." Environment experts ascribe one of the causes for the change to the Buddha - which is on the World Heritage List - to acid rain.

According to a recent survey by the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, acid rain causes an annual average loss of 11.3 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) to the agricultural province. Each year, the rain costs it 6 billion yuan (US$726 million) in crop damage. Acid rain hits 80 per cent of Sichuan's 21 cities and autonomous prefectures.

With the implementation of the western development strategy in the 1ate 1990s, Sichuan has witnessed rapid economic development. But that has brought many environmental problems. Some firms lacking environmental protection facilities have broken the law and discharged waste water, gas and other residues.

The Sichuan authorities say 73 sections of the Tuojiang, Minjiang, Jialing, Jinsha and Yangtze rivers, which all cross the province, are monitored. Fifty-two per cent have poor water quality. The Tuojiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze, failed to reach the required standards in all monitored sections.

To curb pollution, Sichuan has closed and renovated more than 600 major water-polluting firms in recent years. It no longer approves new projects except for ones that treat pollution in areas with a very poor environment. It has recommended such things as the banning of coal as fuel, and a ban on noise.

But the province still has a long way to go in environmental protection, said officials from the Sichuan Provincial Environmental Protection Administration.

Less than 30 per cent of waste water is treated in the province. Of the 24 cities whose air quality is monitored, only five meet the required standards. Fourteen cities, including Chengdu, the provincial capital, have been included in the country's acid rain control zone.

(China Daily 04/19/2005 page3)