Restoring colossal Buddhas in nature: A lesson in sustainable heritage conservation from Southwest China

Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Lecture Series in Chinese Buddhism at the SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies

Since 2000, several high-profile restorations of centuries-old Buddhist monuments in southwest China have raised questions about the value and method of preserving religious icons in a society that reveres tradition but also has a long history of heritage destruction. Focusing on the case of the Laitan Buddha in Hechuan, this lecture brings a sustainability perspective to the debate by discussing how conservation practices and community involvement can contribute to a religio-environmental ethics that encompasses both heritage and nature preservation. 

More broadly, the present study reconceptualizes art historical research as a form of historical inquiry and at the same time a potential intervention into policies and practices related to the conservation of religious monuments. Maintaining a dual focus on scholarship and its applicability in the real world is central to integrating cultural monuments into the climate debate and sustainability discourse, thereby becoming part of the solution moving forward.

About the speaker

Sonya S. Lee is Professor of Art History, East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Religion at the University of Southern California. She is currently Department Chair of East Asian Languages and Cultures. Dr. Lee has published widely on Buddhist material culture of China and Central Asia. She is the author of Temples in the Cliffside: Buddhist Art of Sichuan (University of Washington Press, 2021) and Surviving Nirvana: Death of the Buddha in Chinese Visual Culture (Hong Kong University Press, 2010). She is also Editor-in-Chief for Grove Art Online, the premier online resource for the visual arts administered by Oxford University Press. 

Dr. Lee has received prestigious fellowships and honors for her research, including grants from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., Mellon Foundation, Getty Foundation, Japan Foundation, Asian Cultural Council, and American Council of Learned Societies. Her current book project is a study of the art and technology of wall painting of the Silk Road that engages debates in new materialism and posthumanism.

Attending the event

This event is free and open to all, followed by a wine reception. 

• Organiser: SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies