A statue of the Buddhist goddess of mercy, the largest in the world, will be unveiled this month in the tourist city of Sanya in Hainan Province.

The statue of Avalokitesvara, or Guanyin in Chinese, rises 108 meters, four times higher than Hong Kong's giant bronze Buddha on Lantau, standing 26.4 meters tall.

A total of 108 monks chosen from the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao will unveil the statue April 24, which is likely to become a tourist and religious attraction in Hainan.

The statue would be the largest statue of the goddess in the world, said Au Kit-ming, secretary-general of the Hong Kong Buddhist Association.

India is building the world's biggest Buddhist statue, which will stand at 152 meters.

"Guanyin is the symbol of mercy and one of the most popular holy figures in Chinese culture," Au said.

A spokesman for the Nanshan Guanyin organization, who commissioned the statue, said it took five years to build.

It cost about 1 billion yuan (US$12 million), with some of the money coming from public donations and some from bank loans.

A 15,000 square-meter temple has been built to house the statue and the spokesman believed it would attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area each year.

Sanya Mayor Zhang Qi told local media that the statue would help boost city visitor numbers. Hainan is one of the mainland's most popular tourist destinations.

Editor: Catherine