West Lake, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
雷峰塔 · Léifēng Tǎ
A pagoda built in 977 by the last king of an independent southern kingdom, burned by pirates, quarried brick by brick by people who thought its bricks were lucky, and fallen in 1924. A new one of steel and copper was built over the ruin in 2002, so you can stand inside it and look down at the old base. The White Snake is said to be shut beneath it.
Photo: HoweyYuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
You are at the foot of a low wooded hill on the south shore of West Lake. Above you, at the top of an escalator, rises an eight-sided tower of five storeys, its roofs edged in bronze-gold, its brackets painted. It looks old and is new. Inside, under glass, is a heap of broken red-brown bricks: the tower that stood here for nine hundred years.
It was built in 977 by Qian Chu, the last king of Wuyue (907–978), to hold a relic said to be a lock of the Buddha's hair. A year later he gave his kingdom to the Song (960–1279) without a fight, and Hangzhou was spared a war. In England at that time, the young King Edward was murdered and Æthelred the Unready came to the throne.
Part of West Lake, Hangzhou. Also there: Bai Causeway, Solitary Hill, Yue Fei's Temple, Su Causeway, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, Lingyin Temple.
One ticket covers the escalators, the old base and the tower. Jingci Temple across the road has its own small ticket.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| The old base and the crypt exhibition | Included |
| The tower and the view | Included |
| Jingci Temple | Separate small ticket; price not checked |
The old tower was brick, with wooden balconies and eaves round each storey. In the Ming (1368–1644) Japanese pirates set fire to the wood, and for four hundred years the tower stood as a bare brick stump, looking like an old monk.
People believed a brick from the tower kept evil away, brought sons and helped silkworms. Some bricks held printed sutras, and "sutra bricks" was misheard as "gold bricks". They dug at the base for centuries. On the afternoon of 25 September 1924 it fell.
The new tower, finished on 25 October 2002, is built over the old base on steel legs, so that the ruin is untouched beneath it.
"This is the old pagoda." The old one fell in 1924. What you climb is a modern building of 2002, with lifts and escalators.
"The White Snake is a historical person." She is the heroine of a legend. The pagoda was built for a Buddhist relic, not to imprison anyone.
"The relic is in the pagoda." The crypt was opened in 2001. Its treasures, including the silver reliquary, are in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum.
Escalators carry you up the hill. Inside the tower, lifts and stairs go up to the top floor. An hour is enough.
On the ground floor, under glass and behind a rail, is the base of the tower of 977: rings of broken brick and the line of its eight sides. Look for bricks with a small hole in the end; those were the ones that held the rolled sutras.
On 11 March 2001 archaeologists opened the crypt under the base, with eighteen hours of live television. Inside an iron case stood a small stupa of gilded silver in the form made famous by the Indian emperor Ashoka. Inside it was a small gold container for the relic. A copy is shown in the tower; the original is in the provincial museum.
The upper floors tell the White Snake story in carved and painted panels, and the top floor has a gilded ceiling. The structure is modern; the woodwork and brackets copy the style of the Song (960–1279).
From the balcony you see the whole lake: the Su Causeway running north, the three stone towers off Xiaoyingzhou, the city on the east shore. At sunset this is the Ten Scene called Leifeng Pagoda at Sunset.
Across the road at the foot of the hill is Jingci Temple, founded in 954. Its great bell is struck on New Year's Eve, and Evening Bell at Nanping is another of the Ten Scenes.
| Year | Here | Elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 954 | Jingci Temple is founded at the foot of the hill | Otto I is about to defeat the Magyars at Lechfeld |
| 977 | The pagoda is built | Æthelred the Unready becomes king of England (978) |
| 1555 | Pirates burn the wooden eaves | The Peace of Augsburg divides Germany by religion |
| 1924 | The tower falls | Lenin dies; the first Winter Olympics are held |
| 2001 | The crypt is opened on live television | Wikipedia is founded |
| 2002 | The new tower opens over the ruin | The euro becomes cash |
Films from official channels, played from YouTube. Nothing is loaded until you press play.
These are stories people tell about this place. They are legends, not history, and each one says where it comes from.
The monk Fahai caught the White Snake in his alms bowl and buried her under Leifeng Pagoda. He said she would come out only when the lake ran dry and the pagoda fell.
Source: Feng Menglong, Stories to Caution the World, 1624
Her son grew up, came first in the imperial examinations, and came to the pagoda to pray. The pagoda opened, and mother and son met again.
Source: Later operas and the Qing novel of the story
Later, people who live here will be able to add the stories they grew up with, and say which of these they have heard.
Last checked 2026-11-12. Hangzhou city news of 2024 and 2026 and booking listings for the price; the pagoda's own site could not be opened from abroad.
Checked 2026-11-12
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