BEIJING, Dec. 1 -- An elderly couple in Xuyong county, Sichuan province, have lived in a cave for 16 years to protect 222 Buddha statues, West China Metropolis Daily reported on Friday.

Liu Chaoyong and his wife Kang Guangqing, both 68, are from a village on a mountain above the cave. They moved to the cave in 1997 when the Buddha statues were listed as part of the province's cultural heritage.

The village head asked Liu to protect the statues built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) without any salary. They received some money from their farmland and their three adult children.

The statues were listed as a national cultural heritage in May this year.