Mug Shot — «Hangzhou - Leifeng Pagoda»

From Hangzhou, China

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Mug Details #2099

Starbucks City Mug Hangzhou - Leifeng Pagoda
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Hangzhou formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. It is governed as a sub-provincial city. A core city of the Yangtze River Delta, Hangzhou has a position on the Hangzhou Bay 180 kilometres southwest of Shanghai that gives it economic power. It has been one of the most renowned and prosperous cities of China for much of the last 1,000 years, due in part to its beautiful natural scenery. The city's West Lake is its best-known attraction.

Leifeng Pagoda is a five story tall tower with eight sides, located on Sunset Hill south of the West Lake in Hangzhou. Originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002, since when it has been a popular tourist attraction. The original pagoda was built in 975 AD, during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, at the order of King Qian Chu of Wuyue. It was built to celebrate the birth of Qian Chu's son, born to his Huang Fei. The Leifeng Pagoda was an octagonal, five-story structure built of brick and wood and with a base built out of bricks. During the Ming dynasty, Japanese pirates attacked Hangzhou. Suspecting the pagoda contained weapons, they burned its wooden elements, leaving only the brick skeleton, as can be seen from Ming paintings of the West Lake. Leifeng Pagoda was one of the ten sights of the West Lake because of the Legend of the White Snake. Later, due to a superstition that bricks from the tower could repel illness or prevent miscarriage, many people stole bricks from the tower to grind into powder. On the afternoon of September 25, 1924, the pagoda finally collapsed due to disrepair. As for whether there was a mausoleum below, this was debated for years until finally radar was used to investigate. On March 11, 2001 the mausoleum was excavated and many treasures were found, most notably a gold and silver coated hair of the Buddha.

photo by lucky
edited by mobydick74

  China, Hangzhou

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