Why do people bow to the Buddha statues?

A piece of clay or bronze or jade is not object of our respect. Buddhists do not bow to just statues but to the Buddha statues that representative of real Buddha and his teaching or Dhamma.

 When we bow before Buddha image, we are recalling the qualities of the enlightened beings. The status or painting serves to remind us of the qualities of the Buddha and it is qualities that we are bowing to.