The Six Harmonies Pagoda (liù hé tǎ 六和塔) is located on Yuelun Mountain (yuè lún shān 月轮山) besides Qiantang River (qián táng jiāng 钱塘江), and south of West Lake (xī hú 西湖) inHangzhou City (háng zhōu shì 杭州市), Zhejiang Province (zhè jiāng shěng 浙江省). The pagoda was first constructed in 970 during the Northern Song Dynasty (běi sòng 北宋) byQian Hongshu (qián hóng shū 钱弘淑), the king of Wuyue (wú yuè 吴越). The name “six harmonies” comes from the six Buddhist ordinances, meaning “harmonies of the heaven, earth, and the four directions of east, west, south and north”. At that time, the pagoda was built to suppress the tidewaters.
The pagoda is almost 60 meters in height. Its body was built of brick, while the pent roofs were made of wood. Seen from outside, it has thirteen stories, but it only has seven interior stories. There is a spiral staircase leading to the top floor. Each storey has a square room, whose ceiling were supported by brackets. The walls are carved with human figures, flowers, birds, fish, insects and other decorative patterns. The balconies with banisters around each storey are spacious and convenient for people to walk around and enjoy the beautiful landscape in the open.
The pagoda has been damaged and repaired many times in the past. In 1121 it was almost completely destroyed during the war. Then in 1153 it was reconstructed and was completed in 1163. The original pagoda is nine storeys with a light on the top, serving as a navigation tower in the river. The height of the pagoda was reduced after reconstruction because there were only seven storeys left of the original nine. Major repairs were made again in 1524 during the Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝), in 1735 and 1900 during the Qing Dynasty (qīng cháo 清朝), but were only repaired outside eaves .
The Six Harmonies Pagoda is a famous tide-viewing place. Qiantang River tide is one of the wonderful scenes in the world, you can enjoy it everyday. It is the most magnificent around the mid-autumn day. When climbing onto the pagoda, you will have a spectacular view of the Qiantang River Bridge spanning the surging tides of the Qiantang River. The tide in this area is very grand. Climbing the ancient pagoda and viewing the tide have been a new item in visiting
the Yuelun Mountain. In Song (sòng cháo 宋朝), Yuan (yuán cháo 元朝), Ming Dynasties, Six Harmonies Pagoda was the center in Hanghzou City to view the tide. But after the Ming Dynasty, the tide is gradually moved to the east, the Yanguan Town (yán guān zhèn 盐官镇) in Haining City (hǎi níng shì 海宁市), northern of Zhejiang province, has became the new center of tide-viewing place. But Six Harmonies Pagoda is always an important place to view the tide.
The Six Harmonies Pagoda is one of the most famous sceneries in Hangzhou City. For hundreds of years, it has been praised by poets and litterateur. When coming here, you can not only enjoy the magnificent pagoda, but also can appreciate the sight of Qiantang River.
