4-Day Chengdu Excursion: the Leshan Buddha, Mount Emei & Sanxingdui

Morning — Leitai Han Tomb & Confucian Temple
Take the high-speed train from Tianshui to Wuwei (about 2 hours, 350 km). Visit the Leitai Han Tomb, burial site of the famous 'Bronze Galloping Horse' (Horse Treading a Flying Swallow), a symbol of Chinese bronze craftsmanship dating to the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD). Then explore the Wuwei Confucian Temple, the largest and best-preserved Confucian temple in the Hexi Corridor, where Confucianism coexisted with Buddhism and Taoism — reflecting ancient China's religious tolerance.

Afternoon — Tiantishan Grottoes
Tour the Tiantishan Grottoes, the earliest grottoes in the Hexi Corridor, first carved during the Northern Liang dynasty (397–439 AD). Xuanzang lectured here, drawing hundreds of local monks, and the statues and murals show a blend of Central Asian and Chinese art influenced by the Kushan Empire. This cultural fusion illustrates how the Silk Road exchanged ideas as readily as goods.

Evening — At Your Leisure
The evening is yours to enjoy at your leisure in Wuwei, where you can dine on local Hexi Corridor cuisine or rest ahead of tomorrow's journey.

Morning — Chengdu to Leshan (depart hotel ~08:00 AM)
Your guide and driver collect you from your Chengdu hotel and drive south to Leshan in Sichuan Province, a journey of about two hours. The Leshan Giant Buddha is a 71-metre seated figure of Maitreya carved directly into the cliff where the Min, Dadu and Qingyi rivers meet. Work began in 713 AD under the monk Haitong and was finished in 803 AD, ninety years later. Your guide leads you down the nine-turn plank road cut into the rock beside the statue, bringing you level with the head, the shoulders and the hidden drainage channels that channel rainwater away from the stone.

Cultural Insight
The statue is the tallest stone Buddha in the world and was inscribed by UNESCO in 1996 as part of the Mount Emei Scenic Area, including the Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area. Its ears measure seven metres from top to lobe.

Lunch — Leshan
Lunch at a local restaurant in the scenic area.

Afternoon — River view and return to Chengdu
A short river crossing gives the one view that the stairway cannot: the complete figure, from the crown of the head to the hands resting on the knees. You then drive back to Chengdu, arriving in the late afternoon.

Evening — Departure
Your guide assists with check-out and the transfer to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport or Chengdu Tianfu International Airport for your onward flight. Groups extending their stay are transferred back to their Chengdu hotel instead.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation
Departure day — no hotel night included.

Morning - Sanxingdui Museum (depart 08:00)
Drive north to Guanghan and the Sanxingdui Museum. The site was first noticed by a farmer in 1929; the pits excavated from 1986 onwards produced bronze masks with exaggerated eyes, a bronze tree nearly four metres tall, and quantities of jade and gold unlike anything else in Bronze Age China. The finds forced historians to treat the Shu kingdom of the Chengdu plain as a civilisation in its own right rather than a footnote to the Yellow River.

Lunch
A restaurant near the site.

Afternoon - Jinsha Site Museum
Return to Chengdu and the Jinsha Site Museum, discovered in 2001 during building work and dated some five centuries later than Sanxingdui. Its signature object is the gold sun-bird disc, a thin ring of four birds circling a twelve-rayed sun, now the emblem of the city. Because Jinsha sits inside Chengdu, the museum allows students to see excavation trenches where they were found.

Evening - Debrief and return
Discussion of how archaeology rewrites history, then return to your hotel.

Meals
Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation
Day tour - no hotel night included.

Morning — Xi'an to Tianshui
Take the high-speed train from Xi'an to Tianshui (about 1.5 hours, 300 km), a journey that took Xuanzang roughly ten days on foot. Tianshui, in the Longyou region, was a major center of Buddhism in northern China long before the faith spread across East Asia.

Afternoon — Maijishan Grottoes
Visit the Maijishan Grottoes, known as the "Museum of Eastern Sculpture," with over 7,200 statues and 1,300 square meters of murals carved into a cliffside over some 1,600 years from the Northern Wei to the Tang dynasties. Climb the wooden walkways clinging to the cliff to admire Buddhist art that blends Indian iconography with Chinese aesthetics.

Evening — Tianshui Ancient City
Wander through Tianshui Ancient City, a well-preserved town of cobblestone streets and courtyard houses. Try Longyou specialties such as Tianshui noodles and sweet potato cakes, then join a discussion on the city's role in the spread of Buddhism.

Morning — Tianshui to Wuwei
Continue by high-speed train from Tianshui to Wuwei (about 2 hours, 350 km), the ancient "gateway to the Hexi Corridor." Wuwei, once called Liangzhou, was a bustling hub where merchants from China, India, Persia, and Rome traded silk and ideas.

Afternoon — Leitai Han Tomb & Tiantishan Grottoes
Visit the Leitai Han Tomb, the Eastern Han Dynasty burial site where the famous "Bronze Galloping Horse" (Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow) was unearthed, a symbol of ancient Chinese bronze craftsmanship. Then explore the Tiantishan Grottoes, the earliest grottoes in the Hexi Corridor, built during the Northern Liang Dynasty (397–439 AD).

Evening — Liangzhou City Wall
Stroll along the ancient city wall of Liangzhou, dating back to the Tang Dynasty, and imagine the caravans and monks that once passed through this Silk Road metropolis. Join a sharing session on Xuanzang's experiences in Liangzhou before resting for the night.