Lake Pagoda Temple

Lake Pagoda Temple

Lake Pagoda Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

To the south of Lishui Street lies the renowned Lake Pagoda Temple scenic area. A stretch of green water surrounds a peninsula in the lake — Qinyu Islet. At the western end stands Lake Pagoda Temple, originally built during the Southern Song Dynasty and expanded in the first year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644). The temple faces east, has three courtyards in sequence, and the rear section features a tower. On the upper floor of the tower are enshrined guardian deities such as the Lu Family Deity and Lady Yuan.

In front of Lake Pagoda Temple stands a stage, which is a standalone building. The Lake Pagoda Temple scenic area encompasses a lake, island, hill, embankment, bridge, temple, tower, pavilion, veranda, pagoda, as well as trees and flowers, offering a rich variety of content and ever-changing scenery. It includes eight of the “Ten Scenic Spots of Golden Hill” in Yanjie Village: Spring Dawn Along the Long Dike, Lotus Viewing at Lijiao, Fish Watching in the Clear Pool, Orioles Singing on Qinyu Islet, Verdant Brush Peak, Autumn Moon Over the Waterside Pavilion, Serpentine Stream Encircling the Blue, and Moon Reflected in Lake Pagoda. This garden in Yanjie Village embodies the literati’s romantic ideals of landscapes and the scholarly pursuit of farming and studying.

To the north of Lake Pagoda Temple, separated by a canal from the Shuiting Ancestral Hall Academy, lies Wenchang Pavilion on the mountainside at the foot of the hill. It was established in the first year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1736). Jin Guanzhen, a pioneer of the Yongjia Revolution, once built the “First Library of Mountain and Stream” here. It was destroyed by a wind disaster in 1958, but its site still remains.