Leifeng Pagoda
Coordinates: 30°14′2″N 120°8′42″E / 30.23389°N 120.14500°E
Leifeng Pagoda (Chinese: 雷峰塔; pinyin: Léi Fēng Tǎ) is a five-storey tower with eight sides, located on Sunset Hill south of the West Lake in Hangzhou, China. Originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002. Since then it has been a popular tourist attraction.
The original pagoda was built in 975 AD, during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, at the order of King Qian Chu (born Qian Hongchu) of Wuyue. It was built to celebrate the birth of Qian Chu's son, born to Huang Fei. The Leifeng Pagoda was an octagonal, five-story structure built of brick and wood and with a base built out of bricks.
During the Ming dynasty, Japanese pirates attacked Hangzhou. Suspecting the pagoda contained weapons, they burned its wooden elements, leaving only the brick skeleton, as can be seen from Ming paintings of the West Lake.
Leifeng Pagoda was one of the ten sights of the West Lake because of the Legend of the White Snake.
Later, due to a superstition that the bricks from the tower could repel illness or prevent miscarriage, many people stole bricks from the tower to grind into powder. On the afternoon of September 25, 1924, the pagoda finally collapsed due to disrepair.
...
Wikipedia