Leifeng Pagoda is located in front of Jingci Temple. It is the remnant of Nanping Mountain extending to the north. It is surrounded by lakes and lush forests. Leifeng Pagoda was built in AD 975. Legend has it that it was built by Qian Hongchu, King of Wuyue, to celebrate the birth of his beloved concubine Huang. Because it stands on Leifeng Mountain on the south bank of Hangzhou, it was later renamed "Leifeng Pagoda". When the Leifeng Tower was first built, it was magnificent and magnificent. The whole tower is made of bricks and stones to form the tower body and core. The base plane of the tower is an equilateral octagon with eight sides. There is a wooden eaves corridor around the tower body, with double eaves and flying roofs, and open holes and windows. It is a typical pavilion-style tower with eight sides and seven floors of brick and wood structure. There are spiral climbing stairs along the inner and outer sides of the tower, which can reach the top of the tower layer by layer. Looking out the window, you can have a panoramic view of the West Lake.
After the tower was built, it suffered several war wounds. During the Xuanhe period (1119-1125), a peasant uprising broke out in Zhejiang, and the Beijing government urgently mobilized 100,000 troops to encircle and suppress the uprising. In the tragic war, the century-old tower suffered heavy damage. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the already dilapidated Lei Feng Pagoda was destroyed again in the tug-of-war between the Song and Jin Dynasties.
During the Qingyuan period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1195-1200), the Southern Song Dynasty regime decided to rebuild the tower, and the brick tower was reduced from seven floors to five floors. After the Leifeng Pagoda was renovated, it towered over the south bank of the West Lake and took in the beautiful scenery of the lake and mountains. It became a subject painted by the court painters of the Southern Song Dynasty.
By the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, the Lei Feng Pagoda was well preserved. In the Yuan Dynasty, there were "smoky mountains with dim colors, and thousands-foot pagodas leaning against the sky. Painted boats on the lake are about to return, and the solitary peaks still have the setting sun." The depiction of "red" was praised in the Ming Dynasty as "the dim color creeps into the distant forest, and the chaotic mountains surround half of the lake. The floating picture will attract the attention of tourists, blocking the setting sun with a touch of gold."
In the thirty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1555), Japanese pirates invaded Hangzhou and set fire to the wooden eaves, flat seats, railings, and top of the Leifeng Pagoda because they suspected that Ming troops were hiding in the tower. Of the structure, only the brick tower remains. The ancient pagoda, which was not over 600 years old, has since looked very old. People jokingly called it "Lao Na". There is a poem that goes: "Lei Feng's ruined pagoda looks like a drunken man in the purple smoke." But it is still abrupt and volleying in the sky.
From the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, the Lei Feng Pagoda became one of the ten scenic spots in the West Lake with its incomplete beauty of the exposed brick body. Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty wrote in "History of the West Lake": "The tower has double eaves and flying roofs, and the windows are open. It was later destroyed by fire. The solitary tower stands alone, with red bricks and vines pulling it. It is green and lovely. The sun shines in the west, and the pavilions and terraces are The gold and blue reflect the mountain light, just like the golden mirror that has just opened, and the fire beads on the wall, it is not wrong to look like Chicheng Qixia."
From the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China, there was a widespread rumor in the city and countryside that the bricks of Lei Feng Pagoda could "ward off evil spirits." Ridiculous rumors such as "Yi Nan" and "Benefiting Silkworms" have caused all living beings to dig up the bricks and get the scraps. There are even profiteering people digging out scriptures from the tower to make profits. The brick body of the Lei Feng Tower struggled to support it for 400 years. It was covered in bruises and overwhelmed, and finally collapsed suddenly on the afternoon of September 25, 1924.
About the new tower
The new Lei Feng Tower was designed by the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University and built on the original site of the Lei Feng Tower. It has five floors, is 71 meters high, and covers an area of ??3133 square meters. Mi, based on its appearance after reconstruction in the Southern Song Dynasty, is still an octagonal pavilion-style tower. It is said that building the new pagoda on the original site is a construction design that kills two birds with one stone. It is a protection measure for the Leifeng Pagoda site, and it also adds a scenic building to the West Lake that is in harmony with the colors of the lake and mountains. The shape design of the new Leifeng Tower is based on the reconstructed appearance of the Southern Song Dynasty. It is an octagonal pavilion-style tower.
About One Lake Reflects Two Pagodas
Leifeng Pagoda is also one of a set of facing scenes in the West Lake Pagoda. It is located in the same scenic layout of the West Lake as the Baoshu Pagoda in Beishan. on a central axis. Baochu Pagoda was first built in the Tang Dynasty and later destroyed. During the Five Dynasties, King Qian Hongchu of Wuyue was called to Beijing in compliance with the great cause of unification in the Northern Song Dynasty. In order to protect King Qian's safe return, Prime Minister Wu Yanshuang rebuilt a tower at the site of the Tang Pagoda in Baoshishan and changed its name to "Baochu Pagoda". The existing tower was rebuilt in 1933. It has seven floors and is about 45 meters high. The tower is slender and graceful like a peerless beauty. The two towers, one in the south and one in the north, face each other across the lake, presenting a beautiful view of one lake reflecting the two towers.
Leifeng Pagoda is honest and elegant, while Baoshu Pagoda is slender and handsome, so there is a saying that "Leifeng Pagoda is like an old man, and Baoshu Pagoda is like a beauty".