Leifeng (Lay Fung) Pagoda 雷峰塔

Today Lola and I took a walk around West Lake in Hangzhou to check out some of the trendy little spots in the city. We started at a place called Grandma's Kitchen (外婆家), at one of the eight spots around town--the 中田大厦 zhong1 tian2 da4sha4 location. The food was pretty tasty but our waitress wasn't too happy. I guess if I worked at a restaurant all day slinging deliciously high-priced dishes to foreign non-connoisseurs and didn't make a dime in tips... I wouldn't smile either...but back the story: The food at Grandma's Kitchen was actually the first nice-restaurant style non-back-alley-purchased meal I've had in Hangzhou, so I left pretty impressed (even if the spicy chicken still had bones :d) From the restaurant we took a long walk to 苏堤 (su1di1), a collection of long skinny islands connected by bridges that cuts across the West Lake. I think we must've walked for two hours from the north end to the south end of the lake. As we approached the south end we could see Leifeng Pagoda in the distance, sitting atop a small mountain overlooking the Lake and the city of Hangzhou.


The story of Leifeng Pagoda, as I read it on the seemingly Google translated Chinese-to-Chinglish version of the stone storyboard posted outside the Pagoda, is one of a collection of "National Legends"--like Lincoln never told a lie kind of stuff. Thousands of years ago, an immortal used to fancy coming down from the heavens to pose as a mortal and interact with them for fun. One day he came down to the lakeside posed as a dumpling vendor. He was selling two kinds of dumplings, big ones for 3 and little ones for 2. All day people only bought the big dumplings, until he sold out. Eventually an old man came by with his son, who was starving. The boy wanted dumplings so the man had to buy a small one. The boy ate the dumpling and then didn't need to eat for three days. The old man became very worried and went to look for the dumpling vendor. The immortal dumpling vendor laughed and picked the boy up by his leg and shook him until he spit out the dumpling which fell tumbling down under the bridge where they stood.

Meanwhile...

Under the bridge was a turtle and a snake. These two had been vying for immortality for years and for the past few days had watched this vendor sell dumplings. They knew he was immortal and when they heard the story of the boy and the dumpling, they knew the dumpling was their chance. They both raced after it when it fell under the bridge. Naturally since the snake was long and fast, the white snake grabbed it first and ate it. As soon as she ate it, she turned into a beautiful woman in a flowing white gown.
As she walked around the lake she ran into a vendor selling animals. She bought a green snake and placed it into the West Lake. With her magic she turned it into another woman just like her so she would have a sister on this earth. Together they studied and practiced living among humans, promising to keep each other company.
Years later the White Lady stumbled upon a handsome young man in a tree. She recognized him as the boy who ate the dumpling so many years ago. They met and fell in love and moved away from Hangzhou to start a pharmacy. The White Lady wrote prescriptions and the man filled them. They helped the poor and had a wonderful life together.

Meanwhile...

The turtle was furious he wasn't able to gain immortality and was constantly looking for a way to gain some power. One day he noticed that the great buddha was sleeping, and the turtle stole the Buddha's grey staff, golden bowl, and robe. He turned into a man and posed as a monk. He found a monastary, but was very evil and drove many people away. Others he forced to study at his monastary, all the while looking for the White Lady to exact revenge.
One day he found the White Lady and her husband working at their pharmacy. The White Lady had just given birth and soon they would have a celebration in the baby's honor. The monk posed as vendor outside selling golden phoenix feather crowns. The man heard the vendor's call and ran outside to buy one for his wife to wear at their celebration. The man quickly returned and gave it to his wife who put it on. Soon the crown began to shrink and squeeze her head until she couldn't stand the pain and couldn't take it off. The White Lady was trapped in the golden bowl in her snake form. The evil monk buried her under Leifeng Pagoda as revenge.

Meanwhile...

The Green Lady heard of her sister's entrapment and came to fight the evil monk. Although the fight had no winner, the two of them fought for many many days and made so much commotion that it aroused the sleeping Buddha. He immediately noticed his grey staff, golden bowl, and robe were missing and called them back to heaven. Without these the monk was powerless and the Green Lady quickly defeated him. The evil monk pleaded to the Buddha for help but since he had done so many evil things the Buddha would not help him and banished him to West Lake. The White Lady was rescued from underneath the Pagoda and used her magic to suck all the water from West Lake, leaving no where for the monk to hide except on the belly of the crabs in the Lake. They say to this day you can still see the impression of the evil monk on the belly of West Lake crabs.

END :)