Leifeng Tower in Hangzhou
Leifeng
Tower is also known as Leifeng Pagoda located at Hangzhou city on Sunset Hill,
south of West Lake in the Zhenjiang Province, People's Republic of China. This
tower was built in AD 975 and it collapsed in 1924.The tower was rebuilt in
2002, by recreating in the old architectural marvel and today is one of the
most busy tourist destinations in Hangzhou city.
History:
The tower was built during King Qian Chu
of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to celebrate the birth of his son in one of
his concubines, namely Huangfei. The tower was called as Huangfei Pagoda at
that time. The elevation of the tower is in octagonal shape with five storey
structure.Brick and woods are used for the construction and the base of the
structure is built with solid hard bricks.
Japanese Pirates Torched the
Pagoda:
The tower was attacked by Japanese
pirates during Ming dynasty, suspecting that the tower would be storage of
weapons and they torched it and bring down the structure in to a brick
skeleton.This is evident in some of the painting relics of Ming period.
Interesting Legend:
Leifeng Tower is one of the ten most
important sights of West Lake and there is a beautiful legend about a white
snake related to Leifeng Tower and is known as Legend of the White Snake.People
believed that the Pagoda has miracle power and it can protect ladies from
miscarriages and repel illness.As a result, people started collecting the
bricks and on September 25, 1924 the pagoda collapsed due poor management and
lack of maintenance.
Legend of the White Snake is a love
story between a young scholar who fell in love with a beautiful woman.The woman
was actually an impersonated white snake and without knowing the fact, the
scholar was emotionally attached to the woman. Seeing this, a monk intervened
in their relationship and pushed the snake in to the deep well at the Lei Feng
Pagoda and saved the soul of the scholar. Over a period of time the story on
hearsay, gradually turned from a horror story to a beautiful love story. The
pairs were deeply in love but such relationship is forbidden by the laws of
Heaven! The legend travelled through centuries and many art forms and opera
took this romantic theme for their cultural shows.
Rumors:
There were rumors about a mausoleum lay
in the ground of floor of the tower.It was a hot subject of discussion on
various historical platforms. Then the authorities decided to conduct a
scientific search in the subject with radar mapping. In March 11, 2001 they found
the position of the mausoleum and excavated the area. Lot of historical relicts
and artifacts were recovered from the mausoleum and surrounding areas. The most
important finding was a gold and silver coated hair of Buddha.
Reconstruction:
The Pagoda was decided to rebuilt in
October 1999 and construction work started on the same location of the
collapsed Pagoda over its ruins.For the construction, 1400 tons of steel and
200 ton of copper is used. The new tower has four sightseeing elevators and
equipped with modern facilities such as air conditioners, loud speakers and
televisions.The tower is fitted with two automatic elevators which can carry
tourists from the base to the top of the tower.All the relics what has been
recovered from the mausoleum are kept in a chamber in the underground base.The
new tower is declared opened to the public on 25 October, 2002.
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