Baochu Pagoda

Baochu Pagoda (Chinese: 保俶塔, pinyin: bǎochùtǎ) is known as the Landmark of West Lake in Hangzhou, China. It is located just north of the lake on top of Precious Stone Hill (宝石山, bǎoshíshān). Its small base supports seven stories (45 meters) and gives it a distinctively slender and elegant appearance. Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... The West Lake West Lake (Chinese: ; pinyin: XÄ« Hú) is a famous fresh water lake located in central Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province of eastern China. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: Hángzhōu; Postal map spelling: Hangchow) is a sub-provincial city in China and the capital of Zhejiang province. ...

The name Baochu, translated directly, means "protect Chu", who, legend has it, refers to Qian Chu, the last king of Wuyue. As the story goes, one of King Chu's ministers had the temple constructed for prayers to be said for his safe return from a trip he had taken to Kaifeng, in central China. He had been summoned there by the Emperor and had been gone many days with no news of his return. Qian Chu was king (947-978 AD) of the Wuyue kingdom (852-988 AD) which covered what is today Shanghai, all of Zhejiang Province, the southern portion of Jiangsu Province, and (later) the northern portion of Fujian Province. ... Kaifeng (Simplified Chinese: 开封; Traditional Chinese: 開封; pinyin: Kāifēng; Wade-Giles: Kai-feng), formerly known as Bianliang (汴梁; Wade-Giles: Pien-liang), is a prefecture-level city in eastern Henan province, Peoples Republic of China. ...

It was originally constructed in 963 and stood nine stories tall. Its most recent reconstruction, in 1933, left it slightly shorter, seven stories, and it has most recently had its lantern replaced on its top, though its previous one is on display near the pagoda. It is constructed of brick and stone and contains no internal staircase. The tower lies next to a path that runs the length of West Lake's northern mountain range and is accessible by both dirt paths and cement stairs from nearly every side of the mountain.

References

• Chen, Gang (2003). China Travel Kit Series: Hangzhou. Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 7-119-03283-6.