Kaifeng Po Pagoda Overview & Map Weather Transportation Information
The Po Pagoda is located on the high terrace which is 1.5 kilometers southeast to Kaifeng City. It is the oldest construction of this city and becomes one of Kaifeng's landmarks.
History
The Kaifeng Po Pagoda was built in 974, the 2nd year of Tai Ping Xing Guo Period of Southern Song Dynasty. It is said someone with their surname Fan had once lived near the terrace, so people called it Fan Terrace and the pagoda on the terrace was named Po Pagoda (Fan Pagoda).
During the years of Song Dynasty, it was a more than 80 meters high giant pagoda with nine floors and six angles. But when Zhu Yuanzhang founded his Ming Dynasty, he removed six floors of the pagoda, for the geomancer said the Kaifeng City looked too powerful. Then, the Qing Dynasty came. In early Qing Dynasty, people added a six-floor mini pagoda on the former giant one, so the pagoda got its special form.
What to visit
The Po Pagoda today is 36.68 meters high and made up of blue bricks. There're 108 kinds of brick sculptures and more than 7,000 Buddha statues in the pagoda. All of them are vivid. There are also 178 valuable Buddhism inscriptions in the pagoda. Inside is Buddhist sutras engraved on stone. Get a grip on the railings as you scale to the top.
Famous poems and articles
As a famous scenic spot of Buddhism, poems and articles left by famous people are everywhere in the pagoda. Among them, the poem wrote by Su Shunqing, a famous poet of Northern Song Dynasty, called Deng Fan Ta Shi is the most famous. It described the giant and beauty of the pagoda with vivid sentences.
What to savor
When you are traveling in Kaifeng City, you may try some cuisine which adds glamour to your tour here.
- Carp with noodles, combining tender fish with thin noodles are a local specialty.
- Deep fried pork is also worth a try, its golden skin is crispy and crunchy.
- Tube chicken which gets its odd name because the slices of chicken curl into the shape of a tube after they are cooked is tasty.
- Kaifeng's meat-filled buns are famed throughout China.
- Finish off dinner with a sweet and crispy peanut cake for dessert.
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