Due to the popularity of Maitreya belief, countless Maitreya statues have appeared. In the middle of Jianwu in the Southern Qi Dynasty, the Buddhist monk made a wish to carve the thousands of feet Maitreya Buddha statue in Shicheng Mountain in Shan County, but failed to do so. Later, it was completed by a monk in the fifteenth year (5 16), and it was called the third stone Buddha in history, the giant Buddha in Shanxian County. When Xian Di was writing in the Northern Wei Dynasty, thirteen caves of Maitreya Buddha in Yungang, Datong, were drilled, and the statue was placed 16 meters high. After moving the capital to Luoyang, Longmen Grottoes were built, which contained hundreds of Maitreya statues of different sizes made by Taihe, Jingming and Yongping. In addition, there are many Maitreya statues made by the Northern Dynasties in Huangshi Cliff and Qianfo Mountain in Licheng, Shandong Province. China's Maitreya statue even influenced Japan through the Korean Peninsula.

China's belief in Maitreya began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and gradually became popular. After the Tang Dynasty, due to the translation of the Amitabha Sutra, many people vowed to live in the pure land of the West, so the belief in Maitreya was not as popular as before. However, folk religious organizations in19th century and 20th century are still deeply influenced by Maitreya belief. Since ancient times, Maitreya belief has been quite popular in Korea and Japan.