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Leifeng Pagoda

Historical development

In the second year of Taiping Xingguo era of the Northern Song Dynasty (977 AD), the king of Wu Yue, Qian Chu, built a 7-storey tower named Huangfei Pagoda to offer Buddha's relics and pray for national peace and prosperity. Later, it was renamed as Leifeng Pagoda due to its location on Leifeng (Xizhao Mountain).

In the second year of Xuanhe in the Northern Song Dynasty (1120 AD),Leifeng Pagoda was destroyed by war and fire.

In the seventh year of the Qianlong era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1171), Master Zhiyou of Buddhism initiated the renovation of Leifeng Pagoda, only renovation to five floors.

During the Ming Jiajing period, the wooden eaves of the Leifeng Pagoda were destroyed by war, leaving only the reddish-brown brick tower core.

In the early Qing Dynasty, the Lei Feng Pagoda was still a reddish-brown brick tower. During his southern tour, Emperor Kangxi gave the name"Lei Feng Evening Glow" to it.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the Lei Feng Pagoda had fallen into disrepair due to its age, and the ignorant people had stolen bricks, weakening the foundation of the tower.

On September 25, 1924, in the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, the Lei Feng Pagoda collapsed due to excessive brick theft and excavation, as well as nearby construction work causing vibrations at the site.

In the year 1935, the Chinese architect Liang Sicheng put forward the idea of rebuilding the Leifeng Pagoda and suggested restoring it to its original state.

In May 1983, China's State Council approved the plan for the reconstruction of the Leifeng Pagoda project in the Hangzhou City Master Plan.

In 1988, Zhejiang Travel Future Research Association, Hangzhou Tourism Economics Association, Hangzhou Garden Society, Hangzhou Buddhist Association, Lingyin Temple, Zhejiang Overseas Chinese Association, Hangzhou Overseas Chinese Association, Overseas Chinese Hotel, Qianjiang Evening News, Jiangnan Travel Newspaper, etc. jointly initiated to organize the Leifeng Pagoda Reconstruction Promotion Association in the form of a civil organization and drafted the reconstruction of the origin, but due to many reasons still could not be put into practice.

In July 1999, the Zhejiang Provincial Government and Hangzhou Municipal Government approved the reconstruction of Leifeng Pagoda to be officially included in the agenda.

On December 16, 2000, the reconstruction project of Leifeng Pagoda was officially opened.

On October 25, 2002, the reconstruction of Leifeng Pagoda was completed and officially opened to the public.

Architectural pattern

Overview

Leifeng Pagoda was originally a brick-wood structured tower in the style of a pavilion-like tower, with a wooden eave gallery (subsidiary steps, waist eave, flat seat, railing, etc.) outside and a brick tower body inside that can be climbed. There are stone carvings of the "Avatamsaka Sutra" on the tower wall. According to photos taken during the period of the Republic of China, the height of the original tower's bottom layer was about 12 meters, and the height of each of the other layers was about 8 meters, for a total height of about 50 meters. The pagoda top still has a cylindrical brick-paved stupa base.

Plane of Leifeng Pagoda

Full View of Site of Leifeng Pagoda

Stylobate

From 2000 to 2001, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted a clearance and excavation of the Leifeng Pagoda site. The identified remains of the site mainly include the tower foundation, underground palace, remaining tower body, and some peripheral buildings (such as monk rooms and roads). The tower foundation and tower body are both equilateral octagons. The tower foundation is a natural hill platform with brick and stone on the outer edge, which was flattened and modified. Each side is 17 meters long and the diagonal is 41 meters, with a height of 1.2-2.5 meters above the ground.

Model of the Underground Palace of Leifeng Pagoda

The base of the pagoda is built with stone-made Sumeru pedestal. As the terrain is higher in the west and lower in the east, a double-layered Sumeru pedestal is used on the eastern side, while a single-layered one is adopted on the western side. Carvings of Sumeru Mountain and the sea waves, symbolic of Buddhism's "Nine Mountains and Eight Seas," can be seen on the eastern pedestal, while an overturned lotus is carved on the western pedestal. A secondary platform runs between the outer edge of the pagoda base and the Sumeru pedestal. Judging from the 24 pieces of limestone square column tops excavated from the outer edge of the pagoda base, each face of the original secondary platform had four columns and three bays, with a width of about 5 meters for both the primary and secondary bays, and a depth of about 5.8 meters.

The newly Leifeng Pagoda

Only the lowest level of the tower remains, with an average height of 3-5 meters. It has a sleeve-corridor structure, with the outer sleeve, corridor, inner sleeve, and core chamber arranged from outer to inner, similar to the Yunyan Temple Tower in Suzhou and the Liuhe Tower in Hangzhou. This is a typical Buddhist tower style from the late Wu and Yue dynasties. The outer sleeve has a length of 10 meters and a diameter of 25 meters, making it the largest existing tower among the Five Dynasties. It is 4.2 meters deep and has a door on each side. The staircase to climb the tower is located inside the southern gate. The corridor is 1.8-2.3 meters wide, and the inner sleeve is 3.7 meters deep with doors at intervals, leading to the core chamber. The tower is entirely made of bricks with yellow mud used to join them. The bricks are rectangular, usually 37 cm long, 18 cm wide, and 6 cm thick, with inscriptions related to their origin and age on one side. Some bricks are scripture bricks, with a circular hole 2.5 cm in diameter and 10 cm deep used for storing scripture scrolls on one end.

The newly Leifeng Pagoda 2

The newly reconstructed Lei Feng Pagoda is located on the original site, and was designed by Guo Daiheng and Lv Zhou of the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University. The pagoda is built in the style and scale of the Southern Song Dynasty, and remains a five-story octagonal tower. However, it features a steel frame structure, with the main structural components such as pillars, brackets, and tiles made of copper. The new pagoda consists of three parts: a protective cover, the pagoda body, and the spire. It stands at a height of 71.679 meters, with the protective cover standing 9.7 meters high and consisting of two layers of inclined steel pillars and horizontal steel beams, forming a column-free space with a span of 48 meters that covers the original site and supports the upper pagoda body. The pagoda body is approximately 45 meters high and consists of five stories, with two hydraulic elevators and steel stairs inside. The spire is 16.1 meters high.

The newly Leifeng Pagoda has become the highest point of the south line of

West Lake and offers a panoramic view of the lake from its top.

Pagoda body

First Floor

The main entrance of Leifeng Pagoda features a golden plaque inscribed with the character "Leifeng Pagoda" by the calligrapher Qigong. The ground is paved with glass and beneath it lies the protective layer of the Leifeng Pagoda site (i.e. the foundation).

Hidden Floor

The hidden floor of Leifeng Pagoda is decorated with intricate carvings in the form of Dongyang woodcarvings depicting the love story of Bai Niangzi and Xu Xian in the legend of "The Legend of the White Snake". The carvings utilize five different techniques, including round carving, semi-round carving, high relief, deep relief, and shallow relief, which are combined in a form called "overlay carving" to enhance the storytelling and character portrayal of the legend.

Second Floor

The cultural display on the second floor of Leifeng Pagoda mainly has the "Wuyue Building Tower Picture".

Third Floor

The third floor of Leifeng Pagoda features four pieces of inscribed poetry, each with three poems, for a total of 12 selected from excellent poetic works describing Leifeng Pagoda and the "Leifeng Sunset" from different eras. They are accompanied by illustrations of scenery and characters.

Fourth Floor

The interior of the fourth floor of Leifeng Pagoda features a display of Oushe sculptures depicting the specific locations of the ten scenic spots of West Lake, collectively known as the "New Face of West Lake".

Fifth Floor The fifth floor of Leifeng Pagoda boasts a golden dome made of exquisite gold-plating art, featuring a large lotus flower in the center as a symbol of purity and a wish for world peace. Above the dome is a secret chamber that houses a replica of the Heavenly Palace, along with items and inscriptions passed down to future generations, such as the reconstruction of the Leifeng Sunset and a model of the new Leifeng Pagoda. The walls are filled with small Buddha niches, each containing a mini golden leifeng pagoda, totaling 2002, representing and commemorating the reconstruction of Leifeng Pagoda in 2002 A.D.

Culture

In the legend "The Legend of the White Snake" produced in the Song Dynasty, the Leifeng Pagoda for the Fahai suppression of the White Snake, the plot that is taken from the West Lake, there are blue fish, white snake two demons were town under the tower of Chinese old folklore, "The Legend of the White Snake" the earliest form of the story that the name "White Snake eternal town Leifeng Pagoda".

The collapse of the Leifeng Pagoda coincided with the New Culture Movement in China, and Lu Xun (a literary scholar, thinker, and one of the founders of modern Chinese literature) published "On the Fall of the Leifeng Pagoda" and "On the Fall of the Leifeng Pagoda" on this topic, arguing that it represented the old feudal system and feudal morality and that its fall was a historical necessity, and expressing his desire for a new social construction and innovation in the future. Xu Zhimo and Yu Pingbo, also wrote poems and articles expressing their regret from the historical and cultural perspectives. Similar to Lu Xun, Zhang Eiling's 1963 autobiographical novel The Fall of the Leifeng Pagoda (also translated as The Fall of the Pagoda) also represents the fall of the pagoda as the collapse of the traditional Chinese society's way of life and old values.

Visit information

Location

Leifeng Pagoda is located at No. 15 Nanshan Road, Xihu District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province,China

Ticket price

40 yuan/person

Transportation

Subway

Take the Hangzhou subway line 7 to Wushan Square Station, and then walk to the destination.

References

1. 五代·钱俶撰，《华严经跋》：诸宫监尊礼“佛螺髻发”，犹佛生存，不敢私秘宫禁中。恭率珤贝创窣波于西湖之浒，以奉安之。规橅宏丽，极所未见，极所未闻。宫监弘愿之始，以千尺十三层为率，爰以事力未充，姑从七级梯旻，初志未满为慊。……塔之成日，又镌《华严》诸经围绕八面，真成不思议劫数大精进幢。如是合十指爪以赞叹之，塔因名之曰皇妃云。吴越国王钱俶拜手谨书于经之尾。
2. 浙江省文物考古研究所编. 雷峰塔遗址. 北京: 文物出版社. 2005: 10. ISBN 7-200-04168-8.
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6. 明·田汝成撰，《西湖游览志·卷三·南山胜迹》：雷峰者，南屏之支脉也。穹窿回映，旧名中峰，亦曰回峰，宋有道士徐立之居此，号回峰先生，或云有雷就者居之，故又名雷峰。吴越王妃于此建塔，始以千尺十三层为率，寻以财力未充，始建七级，后复以风水家言，止存五级，俗称王妃塔。以地产黄皮木，遂讹黄皮塔。俗传湖中有白蛇、青鱼两怪，镇压塔下。
7. 清·陆次云撰，《湖壖杂记·雷峰塔》：嘉靖时东倭入寇，疑塔中有伏，纵火焚塔，故其檐级皆去，赤立童然，反成异致。俗传湖中有青鱼、白蛇之妖，建塔相镇。大士嘱之曰：“塔倒湖干，方许出世。”崇祯辛巳，旱魃久虐，水泽皆枯，湖底泥作龟裂。塔顶烟焰薰天，居民惊相告曰：“白蛇出矣”，互相惊惧，遂有假怪以惑人者。后得雨，湖水重波，塔烟顿息，人心始定。
8. 《西湖新志·卷二·山水》：旧传湖中有青鱼、白蛇之妖，故镇以塔。《清波小志》引小窗日记云，宋时法师钵贮白蛇覆于雷峰塔下，似宋时实有此事。
9. 《雷峰塔倒塌90年 习近平曾以此告诫“危亡之渐”》. 姚似璐、沈亭亭. 杭州网. [2017-12-24]. （原始内容存档于2017-12-24）.
10. 《俞平伯先生与雷峰塔》. 乐齐. 人民网. [2017-12-24]. （原始内容存档于2016-03-04）.
11. 《张爱玲首部英文自传体小说《雷峰塔》出版》. 中国新闻网. [2018-01-03]. （原始内容存档于2018-01-14）.
12. 雷峰塔简介   ．杭州雷峰塔景区官网[引用日期2021-07-03]
13. 杭州雷峰塔变迁杂记   ．杭州雷峰塔景区官网[引用日期2021-07-03]
14. 文化陈设   ．杭州雷峰塔景区官网[引用日期2021-07-03]
15. 雷峰塔昨重现人间   ．华商报[引用日期2021-07-03]
16. 新塔风貌   ．杭州雷峰塔景区官网[引用日期2021-07-03]
17. 门票政策   ．杭州雷峰塔景区官网[引用日期2021-07-03]