ANYONE able to convince the top stars of our time to perform for free must command a lot of power. Undoubtedly Leshan Buddha is such a power.In the just concluded 4th Leshan International Tourism Buddha Festival held in Leshan, Sichuan — the site of one of the most famous Buddha statues in China — dozens of top stars made an appearance at the celebration party. Among them were: popular mainland singer Na Ying, Hong Kong’s to-be-retired teenage idol Nicholas Tse, Taiwan’s pop singer of international fame Coco Lee, popular TV hosts Sally Wu and Li Xiang. The most unusual thing is that none of the big stars asked for any payment for their performance, an unexpected surprise to be sure. What could get money out of the stars’ mind? The reason lies in the Buddha of course. “As entertainers, we have to travel around frequently. Safety is our biggest concern. By taking part in the Buddha festival, we are actually praying to the Leshan Buddha for safety,” some of them said. Nicholas Tse even announced at the party that this would be his last performance in public before retirement. The performers made the celebration one of the most striking events in Sichuan lately. Scalpers doubled the ticket price before the show, and consequently made quite a profit. It was estimated that some illegal dealers made as much as 60,000 yuan scalping tickets. (SD-Agencies)