The return of Jian-zhen’s statue tovisit his homeland in 1980 will surely be agrand occasion.This paper deals with thegreat merit of the Buddhist monk Jian-zhenin the cultural exchange between China andJapan one thousand and two hundred yearsago.Monk Jian-zhen was born in the cityof Yang-zhou of China in the year of 688A.D.When he was fourteen years old

hebecame a monk in the Da-yun Temple

where he gained a wide knowledge invarious fields such as architecture

medicine

materia medica and other disciplines.Later

he went to Chang-an and Luo-yang

wherehe learnt more and became a wellknown andrespected monk at about the age of fourty.He was invited to Japan by Japanesemonk in 743 A.D.He tried for six times

experienced and tided over many difficultiesand finally arrived in Japan in 753 A.D.He and his disciples contributed a lot in thecultural exchange between China and Japannot only in Buddhism but also in manyother fields

such as medicine

materia me-dica

architecture

sculpture

carving

painting

calligraphy

language

phonology

embroidery

sewing

cooking

brewing

gardening and plan-ting trees in and around the city

etc.Hewas really one of the most outstanding fi-gures and representatives in the history ofcultural exchange between China and Japan.Jian-zhen died in Japan in 763 A.D.Before his death

his disciples made a statuefor him

which has been carefully and preci-ously preserved in Japan for more than onethousand years and has been consideredas a national treasure.The return of this statue to his home-land for a visit will surely do more in thepromoting of the friendship between theChinese and the Japanese peoples as well asin the development of scientific and culturalexchange.