Famous Buddha heads fallen by time

Management of Beijing's famous Summer Palace said the damaged heads of several Buddha statues was the work of Mother Nature and history not thugs, CRI reported.

The original heads of the Buddha statues on the wall around the Wisdom Sea, which were reported as lost recently, were actually ruined by allied forces ravaging the park a century ago, management said, according to the report.

Summer palace affixed news heads to the broken Buddha statues as part of a facelift in 1982 and 2006, but the patched heads all dropped later as they expanded in heat and contracted in cold due to difference in the coloured glaze.

The area around the broken statues was under intensive monitoring, and no destruction has been caught on camera, said the management.

A Chinese news website on Sunday reported that the heads of several Buddha statues were lost in Tower of Buddhist Incense, which staff from Summer Palace said was the wrong place, stirring many Chinese internet users to suspect someone intentionally damaged the relics.