Coins Shimmer at the Base of the Ruins of Leifeng Pagoda 雷峰塔
The Leifeng Pagoda at the West Lake was quite attractive, it looks like it was built only yesterday. However, little did I know that the Leifeng Pagoda that is here right now, is just a replica of the original. When I entered the pagoda, there was some sort of excavation done on the basement. The enclosed excavation showed the remains of what used to be the original Leifeng Pagoda. The original pagoda was built more than a thousand years ago, however a series of attacks over the centuries reduced the pagoda to a brick skeleton.
Pile of Bricks Unearthed at the Base of Leifeng Pagoda 雷峰塔
Amusingly, the pagoda gained a reputation of warding off illness, because of this the people started to pick bricks from the pagoda, finally, the inevitable happened, in 1924, the pagoda collapsed. In 2002, the reconstructed pagoda was opened to the public. In a sense, this pagoda really was only built yesterday. At the bottom, visitors can see the ruins of the old pagoda. Irritatingly though, you can also see coins previously thrown coins at the bottom of the ruins. It doesn’t seem to be possible to throw coins there now, but I was surprised it was allowed in the first place.
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