Meant to be the city’s tallest landmark before the age of skyscrapers, the 71m tall Leifeng Pagoda (雷峰塔, Léifēng Tǎ) towers over the lake, with the misty green of the southern shore as a backdrop. The pagoda certainly warrants a visit for the sweeping vistas from its top floor, especially on a rainy day when the mist covers the surrounding hills.
Upon seeing the escalators that take people up the hill to the pagoda, you might cotton on to the fact that it’s not an original structure. The interior, complete with a mall-like ground floor and elevators, will confirm your suspicions: the old brick-wood pagoda, erected in 975 CE, decayed into a picturesque ruin over the centuries before eventually collapsing in 1924. It was rebuilt in 2002, complete with the delicate but decidedly modern woodcarvings based on tales from Chinese mythology, specifically the story of the White Snake, partly set near the pagoda.
