Sun Moon Pagodas

The Sun and Moon Pagodas is located in in the Fir lake/Shanhu lake, and the inner city of Guilin, and consists of two pagodas, the Sun pagoda and Moon pagoda, and it is also known as Gold and Silver Pagodas. It is a combination of Confucianism, Buddism and Taoism, and  one of the cultural symbols of Guilin. It is firstly built in the Tang Dynasty, and rebuilt in 2001. This attraction may be visited in daytime and night, and it is gorgeous in the night because of the lights  which would be turned off in 23:00 o'clock.

Sun Moon Pagodas

The Sun pagoda is in the center of the lake, 41 meters and 9 floors, and all of its components are made from plain brass, and it looks in golden, which gives it another as gold pagoda, and 350 tons of brass material is used in the Sun pagoda. Inside of  this pagoda, there is an elevator in service. The Sun pagoda is the highest brass pagoda in the world, and the highest pagoda standing in a lake. In the first floor, there is a brass bell to pray for happiness and good luck, and visitors could have a try to strike the bell and wish a better future. In the first and second floors, there are tea houses for visitors to have a cup of tea and enjoy the beautiful scenery. In the eighth and ninth floors, there are Sheli exhibitions and Sheli is the crystal of Sakyamuni's body after cremation. The highest floor is the best place to have an overall view of this lake.

 

Underwater Tunnel

 The Moon pagoda is 35 meters high and 7 floors, which is decorated by colored glaze, thus it is also named silver pagoda. Carvings in every floors have themes of different meanings. Its underground palace has large-scale wall paintings of qing hua mei ping vase in the Ming Dynasty and embossment of Medicine Buddha, bodhisattva and guardian angels of 12 Chinese zodiac. In  its first floor, there is a Tai ji drum and exhibition of Buddhism and Taoism. Its square and first floor have many stone tablets with carvings. The seventh floor is a floor of Yue Lao, a god of love and marriage, and has the statue of Yue Lao. Inside of the two pagodas, there are lots of exquisite carvings. The two pagodas are linked by a tunnel of 18 meters under the lake. Through the arched glass, visitors may be surprised by the leisure of fish and beautiful scenery in the lake. From the highest place of the two pagodas, visitors may have a whole view of the Fir lake.

 

Stone Inscription

The Sun and Moon Pagodas has great historical, architectural, and cultural value. The pagodas have a long history and still keep the building style in ancient time and it is a cultural thing from a deep level. It has features of Confucianism, Buddism and Taoism, like carvings, bell, and bronze statue. It has bronze statues of Sakyamuni, Confucius, and Laozi. In the Moon pagoda, there are stone carvings like tablet of bamboo leaf, tablet of Sakyamuni's footprint, and portrayal tablet. Bamboo leaf tablet is a stone inscription carved with a poem, and the word of the poem forms a picture of bamboo leaf. Portrayal tablet is made by Zhu Zaiyu in 1565, and it is a mixed portrayal of Sakyamuni, Confucius and Laozi. Qian nian shou tablet is made by Wang Yuanren, a calligrapher in the Qin Dynasty in 1825. The stone inscription consists of one thousand words of Qian, nian and Shou, and those words are in styles of seal script, cursive script and clerical script, and the last strokes of every words have a small word of fu. Though the tablet only has three kinds of words, they are distinct from each other.