Leifeng Pagoda, a prominent landmark of Hangzhou's West Lake, Leifeng Xizhao, has been one of the ten scenic spots of the West Lake since the Southern Song Dynasty.
Leifeng Pagoda, built in 977 AD, has been more than 1,000 years old, and the Leifeng Pagoda we see now was built in October 2002.
The millennial changes of Leifeng Pagoda are a history book full of vicissitudes of time.
Every time I go to the West Lake, whether I look at it from a distance or up close, I will reread the Leifeng Pagoda once.
A thousand years ago, leifeng pagoda, who presided over the construction?
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Hangzhou was subordinate to the State of Wuyue, and in 923 AD, Qian Wei was crowned king of Wuyue and officially established the State of Wuyue.
In 932, Qian Wei died of illness and experienced a change of government under the king of Wenmu, Qian Zuo, the king of Zhongxian, and Qian Qian, the king of Zhongxun.
In 948, the 19-year-old Qian Li took the throne, "the people cultivated it, the public did not add endowments", the people's hearts were very happy, and they were deeply supported by the people in the land of Wuyue.
Qian Li was a frugal man, often dressed in large clothes, dressed without Luo Qi, and his concubines and descendants Tai Zhen Zhai monks gave alms, advocated Buddhism, and widely built temples and pagodas.
In 960, Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Qiao mutinied and established the Northern Song Dynasty regime, which became increasingly prosperous.
In 975, the Song army captured the Southern Tang capital Jinling (present-day Nanjing), after the lord Li Yu surrendered, the Southern Tang collapsed, and the king became a prisoner.
The Song army directly approached Wu Yue, and the lips were cold, and Wu Yue's country was in danger.
In 976, in order to ensure the peace of the party and save the people of Wuyue from the suffering of war, Qian Li decided to declare himself a vassal to the Song and pay tribute every year.
Qian Li's act of being a vassal not only saved the people of Wuyue from the destruction of life, but also expanded the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Emperor Taizong of Song greatly rewarded him.
Qian Li was successively named the King of Huaihai, the King of Hannan, the King of Nanyang, the King of Xu, and the King of Deng, while his wife Sun Taizhen was named the Imperial Concubine of Wuyue.
The song dynasty ministers generally opposed it, because there was no precedent for the wives of princes with different surnames to be crowned concubines, but Song Taizu continued to expand his territory in order to win the hearts and minds of the people, and insisted on making an exception to name Sun Taizhen as the imperial concubine of Wu Yueguo.
Written in the Wuyue region in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Qiansun Li ranked in the top four, which is why.
It is in this context that Qian Wang Qian Li, in order to enshrine the Buddha's snail bun hair relic, proposed to build a pagoda on Zhongfeng Mountain at the southern end of the West Lake, originally planned to build 13 floors, due to current turbulence, financial resources are not good, it is planned to change 7 floors.
In 977, when it was finally completed, only 5 floors were built.
Zhongfeng is also known as Huifeng, Huifeng's Huizi, the old lei, so it is called Leifeng Tower.
In order to thank the imperial family for the grace of Sun Taizhen as the imperial concubine, Qian Li called the Leifeng Pagoda built "Imperial Concubine Pagoda". There are poetry clouds:
A branch of dragon rui Shi Zen Guan, the FaYuan Zhen over the beautiful mountain.
More with the true concubine Liu Ta Ji, the detailed book of the end of the ceremony Hua Yu.
In 978, Qian Li wept goodbye to Wu Yue and went to Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, to formally submit to Zhao Guangyi, emperor taizong of the Song Dynasty, and return the land to the Song.
Ten years later, in August 988, Qian Li celebrated his sixtieth birthday, and Emperor Taizong of Song gave him a special wine to celebrate his birthday, and Qian Li and the messenger feasted until the night.
It was night, Qian Li was violent, and there was much speculation among the people that it was poisoned, and the later actions of the Song Room seemed to be able to get proof.
In order to consolidate the authority of the imperial family and eliminate the influence of the Qian clan in the land of Wuyue, the Song Dynasty ordered that all the stone carvings related to the Qian clan in the territory of Wuyueyuan be eradicated, so the name "Imperial Princess Pagoda" was also removed, called Leifeng Pagoda.
However, the people of Wuyue still passed on the word of mouth, calling Leifeng Pagoda the Imperial Concubine Pagoda, and with the passage of time, when people wrote the Imperial Concubine Pagoda again, they mistakenly wrote it as "Huangfei Pagoda", and thought that it was a concubine surnamed Huang, but it was not.
"The southern shore of the West Lake is shining on the mountain, and the peak of the thunder peak on the mountain is shining." The white snake stayed on the south bank of the lake, who knew that the tower was for HuangFei Tian! ”
The "yellow concubine" in the ancient poem should actually be the "imperial concubine".
In 1120, the second year of the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, Fang La's rebel army invaded Hangzhou, and the Leifeng Pagoda was severely damaged by the war.
In 1138 AD, Emperor Gaozong of Song moved the capital from Yingtianfu to Hangzhou, "When will the Song And dance of the Qingshan Lou outside the mountain and the West Lake be rested?" The warm wind smoked tourists drunk, straight to Hangzhou as a beizhou. ”
During the first year of the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, between 1195 and 1200 AD, leifeng pagoda was rebuilt.
The scenery of Leifeng Pagoda at dusk and the sunset was appreciated by The famous painter Li Song of the Southern Song Dynasty, who called it "Leifeng Sunset Illumination" in the "West Lake Map".
"Lei Feng Xizhao" has been circulated since then and included in the famous Ten Views of the West Lake.
In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1555 AD, the Wukou invaded Hangzhou, and there were ambush soldiers in the suspected tower, and the Leifeng Pagoda was set on fire.
After being burned, the Leifeng Pagoda, only the brick tower body remains, the whole body is red, still standing, a desolate.
Leifeng Pagoda is therefore also known as Xiguan Brick Tower.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the famous playwright Feng Menglong included the folk story "The Legend of the White Snake" in the collection of vernacular short stories.
"The Legend of the White Snake" tells that during the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty, the snake demon who had been cultivating for thousands of years transformed into a beautiful woman Bai Suzhen, and the maid Xiaoqing, met Xu Xian in the West Lake, fell in love, and then was obstructed by Fahai, the White Lady Shui Flooded The Golden Mountain saved Xu Xian, was suppressed by Fahai under the Leifeng Pagoda, and later Xiao Qing practiced mana hard, and finally defeated Fahai, the Leifeng Pagoda collapsed, and Bai Suzhen was rescued.
The story of "The Legend of the White Snake" adds a mythological color to the Leifeng Pagoda.
"The Legend of the White Snake" and "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "The Legend of Meng Jiang Girl", "Cowherd Weaver Girl", and are known as the four major folk love stories in China.
In the nearly 400 years since the Leifeng Pagoda was burned, it has not been rebuilt, and the reason is that people are influenced by the story of "The Legend of the White Snake", so that the White Lady can be freed, and the Leifeng Pagoda is better to fall.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, folk legend said that the brick tower soil of Leifeng Pagoda can boil water to drive away diseases and fitness, so the brick soil at the bottom of Leifeng Pagoda is constantly dug up by the people and gradually becomes a dangerous tower.
On the afternoon of September 25, 1924, the Body of Leifeng Tower suddenly collapsed, and at the moment when the tower fell, the crowd of onlookers actually cheered.
Lu Xun once published two eloquent articles in a row, "On the Fall of the Leifeng Pagoda".
Xu Zhimo, in the poem "Never Seeing Lei Feng Again", expressed the infinite sadness after the fall of the tower:
There is no more Thunder Peak,
Lei Feng has since been buried in people's memories,
Like a dream once upon a time,
Once a favorite.
After the Leifeng Pagoda fell, it was reduced to ruins.
Until July 1999, Zhejiang Province made a decision to rebuild leifeng pagoda and restore the "leifeng xizhao" landscape.
On December 26, 2000, the foundation stone of the reconstruction project of Leifeng Pagoda was officially laid.
On March 11, 2001, excavations began on the ruins of Leifeng Pagoda and the Underground Palace.
The cave entrance of the underground palace is located in the center of the tower, 2.6 meters from the ground of the first floor of the tower, the entrance of the underground palace is sealed with a square stone slab, and the stone slab is pressed with a huge stone weighing 750 kilograms, the underground palace is not large, about 0.5 meters long, about 0.5 meters wide, and about 1 meter deep, and 60 precious cultural relics including the Wuyue pure silver Ashoka Pagoda, the gilded dragon lotus base Buddha statue, etc., and thousands of "Kaiyuan Tongbao" ancient coins have been unearthed, which has caused a sensation at home and abroad.
On October 25, 2002, the reconstruction of Leifeng Pagoda was officially completed, and the new tower was built on the site of the original tower, retaining the pavilion-style structure before the old tower was burned.
After the reconstruction, the Leifeng Xizhao Scenic Area covers an area of 8 hectares, with a height of 71.679 meters, and is composed of three parts: the base, the tower body and the tower brake, of which the tower height is 49.17 meters, the tower brake is 18.25 meters high, and the platform base is 9.8 meters, from top to bottom: tower brake, Tiangong, five floors, four floors, three floors, two layers, dark layer, bottom layer, second floor, platform base two layers, platform base bottom.
Climb the Leifeng Pagoda for a panoramic view of the West Lake.
The Leifeng Pagoda, which has changed for thousands of years, has gone through vicissitudes and finally returned to its glory.