Pazhou Pagoda

Pazhou Pagoda
Chinese 琶洲塔
The Whampoa Pagoda in 1853.

The Pazhou Pagoda, formerly also known as the Whampoa Pagoda to Europeans, is an ancient Chinese pagoda on Pazhou Island in Haizhu District, Guangzhou, the capital of China's Guangdong Province.[1]

History

The Pazhou Pagoda initiated work in 1597 and it was completely built in 1600.[1] The pagoda is situated on a knoll at the south bank of Pearl River. Although it was built as a Buddhist landmark, it was also a useful navigation point for merchant ship travelling to Guangzhou.[1][2][3]

Architecture

It is an octagonal tower with 9 main sections and 17 sub sections.[4] The tower stands at about 59 meters (194 ft) and has a diameter at the base of 12.7 meters (42 ft).[4] It covers a total area of 111 square metres.[4][5]

As similar functions to Chigang Pagoda, it was built for Fengshui and allow safe navigation of merchant ships travelling along the Pearl River towards Guangzhou.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Pazhou Pagoda". Source: gz.gov.cn. 2009-11-04.
  2. ↑ "Ancient Architecture of Guangzhou: Pagodas". www.newsgd.com. 2003-05-29.
  3. ↑ "琶洲塔简介".
  4. 1 2 3 4 China Travel. "Pazhou Tower".
  5. ↑ "琶洲塔".

Coordinates: 23°05′57″N 113°22′36″E / 23.099071°N 113.376736°E / 23.099071; 113.376736

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Whampoa Pagoda.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.