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Lingguang Pagoda

The Lingguang Pagoda stands on a hilltop northwest of the Changbai-Chaoxian Autonomous County in Jilin Province.

Built by the Bohai Kingdom during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Lingguang Pagoda is the earliest known pagoda of the northeastern area. Sitting in the north and facing south, the pagoda is located near the Yalu River. The square-shaped, brick pagoda was originally designed like a pavilion, with
multi-layered eaves. The present pagoda has five stories and stands at 13 meters in height. Its body rises from the bottom to meet the top, layer by layer; the ground floor is the highest layer at about 2.8 meters. Eaves protruding from each layer tilt up at the corners. A 1.65-by-0.9-meter arched
door leads to the center of the ground floor where the four walls are paved with big, brown bricks that have decorative patterns. A square mullion window opens on each sides from the second to the fifth floors. A calabash-shaped top was added to the pagoda by builders of modern times. The pagoda
originally had no base and its present base was constructed in 1953. The Lingguang Pagoda witnessed the prevalence of Buddhism in the Bohai area during the Tang Dynasty and contained high buildings from that period. As a result, it has great historical and cultural value.

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Ge Garden

The Ge Garden is located on Dongguan Street in a suburb of Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province.

The Ge Garden was developed from the Shezhi Garden of the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). During the reign of emperors Jiaqing and Daoguang, Huang ZhiJun, a salt businessman of Huai’an and Huaiyin, purchased and rebuilt the garden. He planted 1,000 bamboo trees in the garden and took half of the
Chinese character for bamboo, as its name — (Ge). The garden is famous for its layers of rocks that were shaped in a powerful style, especially the Four Season Hills.

The Spring Hill is a moon-shaped gate above which the Chinese character,(written like three bamboo leaves), is engraved. Going through the gate one will encounter numerous slender bamboo trees and unevenly distributed stalagmites. The bamboo and stones form an enchanting picture of spring scenery.
Heading north, one will find the Sweet-scented Osmanthus Hall, with rows of sweet-scented osmanthus trees planted in front and a limpid pond in the back.

The Summer Hill, which encircles Osmanthus Hall, is layered with rocks from Taihu Lake. The piled rocks along the pond produce a summer scene, complete with caves, a winding bank and stalactites.

The Autumn Hill is a yellow, artificial hill situated in the east. It stretches across half of the garden, with a total length of over 20zhang(1zhang= 3.3 meters). The hill consists of piled up craggy rocks. Stone rooms and stone bridges were modeled after the hill with a pavilion on top. It is
said that when the sun sets, it feels as though autumn has arrived — hence the name: Autumn Hill.

Winter Hill lies beneath the east peak of the yellow artificial hill. It was built with layers of white stones that resemble snow. It is said that when sunlight is reflected by the rocks on the peak, it casts a shadow on the quartz, which produces an ice-like luster. Such construction material is
rarely found in other gardens.

Other buildings include the Yiyu Veranda, Baoshan Building, Fuyun Pavilion, Zhuqiu Pavilion and Touyue Veranda.

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Baisikou Twin Tower

The Baisikou Twin Tower is located in Baisikou of Helan Mountain, 45 kilometers northwest of Yinchuan City in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The Baisikou Twin Tower is the only brick tower with a double-eaved roof in Ningxia. Built on the south slope and running through Baisikou path, the two facing towers are 100 meters from east to west.

The east tower is octagonal in shape, with each side measuring about 2.5 meters. The tower has 13 stories and is 45 meters high. Except the first floor, which is tall, the rest floors decrease in height gradually. Two beast-headed figures are embossed on each side of the tower under the eaves of
each layer. To the south of the tower gate is a 2-meter-by-50-centimeter path leading inside. The rooms are round with floors separated by thick, hollow, wooden structures. The west tower has 14 stories and is similar in shape to the east tower. Except for the first floor, each of the eight sides
of each layer has a niche carved in the middle of the outer wall containing a standing Buddha statue. Both sides of each niche are decorated with beast-headed embossments with a pearl in the mouth.

The Buddhist temple originally built between the two towers has been destroyed. Although there is no record of when the twin tower was erected, the remaining cultural relics indicate that it was probably built around the Western Xia Dynasty (1038-1227).

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