When was the Leifeng Tower built?

"The misty mountains are shining, and thousands of feet's floating figure is leaning against the air. It is my wish to draw a boat on the lake, and there is still sunset on the lonely peak. " This is a poem written by Yin, a poet in the Yuan Dynasty, describing the sunset of Leifeng Tower. For more than 1000 years, I don't know how many poets, painters and playwrights have painted the Leifeng Pagoda of the West Lake and are addicted to eulogizing it. "Leifeng Sunset" has been listed as one of the ten scenic spots in the West Lake since the Southern Song Dynasty. Although the tower no longer exists, its ancient charm still reminds people of good memories.

Leifeng Pagoda is located at the foot of Nanping Mountain on the south bank of Hangzhou West Lake. Here is a remnant vein winding from Nanping Mountain, with a strange peak protruding, formerly known as Zhongfeng, also known as Zhaoqian Mountain, with an altitude of about 85 meters. According to Lin 'an County Records, once upon a time there was a man named Lei who lived in seclusion here, hence his name Lei Feng. Leifeng Tower, named after it is located above Leifeng.

This tower was built in 975 A.D., when the king celebrated the birth of his favorite concubine Huang, so it was once called the "Yellow Flying Tower". Therefore, the tower was located outside the Xiguan of the city at that time, also known as the "Xiguan Brick Tower". However, these names are gradually ignored and forgotten by people. The name of Leifeng Pagoda has spread to the world with the story of the white snake in Leifeng Sunset Red and Legend of the White Snake, one of the ten scenic spots in the West Lake.

According to some data, the Leifeng Tower was originally planned to build 13 floors, but due to lack of financial resources, only seven floors were built. As soon as the tower was built, Qian Hongchu heard that the number "seven" was against him, so he subtracted two floors and turned it into a five-story tower. Actually, it's not like this. The seven-level floating picture is the standard number of pagodas, and Qian Hongchu will not demolish more than two layers of the completed pagodas.

According to historical documents, ancient paintings and photos before the collapse, Leifeng Tower is an octagonal, five-story pavilion tower with mixed brick and wood structures. This tower is made of brick, and its eaves, terraces, verandahs and railings are all made of wood. There are Hua Yan Jing stone carvings on all eight sides of the tower. There are sixteen arhats under the tower. These arhats were later moved to Jingci Temple.

Leifeng Pagoda is more unlucky than other ancient pagodas. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was still the grand gesture of "thousands of feet floating in the sky". In the Ming dynasty, it was greatly damaged. During the Jiajing period (1522- 1566), the Japanese invaded Hangzhou and set fire to all the eaves, flat seats, railings and top of Leifeng Tower, leaving only the brick tower. In an ancient painting of the West Lake during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, Leifeng Pagoda was destroyed at the top of the tower, and ancient trees were swaying. The poet also described Lei Feng with poems and articles such as "Lei Feng is like a drunk in the purple smoke in the tower", "Wei Bao is like a beauty, and Lei Feng is like an old woman". Later, due to superstition, some ignorant people often grind tower bricks into powder and dig them into bricks to treat diseases or protect the fetus, and even describe stopping as a panacea for all diseases. Others dig scriptures from the tower in an attempt to make a fortune. By August, 1924, the foot of the tower had been hollowed out, and with other damage reasons, the ancient pagoda completely collapsed.

After the tower fell, when people cleaned up the residue, they found in the brick hole that the scroll began to read "Made by Qian Hongchu, the grand marshal of the world military power". This is 84,000 volumes, rounded to Xiguan Brick Pagoda, which will be dedicated forever in August. "The year of Chayihai was eight years in wuyue, Qian Hongchu, and the year of Kaibao in the Northern Song Dynasty (975) was the last year of Wu Yueguo, which proved the date of building the tower.