Nanjing City, Capital of Jiangsu Province

Linggu Pagoda

Founded in the Liang dynasty (502-557), Linggu temple was once a sprawling monastic complex where Buddhist monks studied in seclusion.  Unfortunately, most of the temple was destroyed in the 19th century Taiping rebellion--a small loss in a conflict that claimed over 30 million lives.  Among the temple's interesting features is a vaulted hall built in 1831, commonly called the "beamless hall" because, unlike most Chinese buildings, it is built entirely of masonry.  Originally a shine to the Amitabha Buddha, it was converted in 1928 into a shrine for the 33,000 soldiers killed in Chiang Kai-Shek's "northern expedition" to reunify the country.

Linggu pagoda is another notable structure.  Built in 1928, it also commemorates the soldiers killed in the national revolution.  It is a reinforced concrete and wood structure nine stories tall.  Tourists can climb to the top on a spiral staircase. Linggu Pagoda was built in 1929 to memorize those soldiers. The 9 stories pagoda stands 60.5 meters high. Speeches made by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and epigraphs of Chiang Kai-Shek were inscribed on the tower.

In the temple, there is also a Three Superb Tablet, on which a painting of Monk Baozhi, painted by Wu Daozi, a famous painter, a memorial poem written by Libai, the most outstanding poet, and calligraphy written by Yan Zhenqing, a well-known calligrapher in the Tang dynasty (618-907) were inscribed. Since the three were all superb masters in their own field in the Tang dynasty, the tablet was considered Three Superb Tablet. Unfortunately, the original tablet was broken in warfare, the present one is a duplicate under the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing dynasty.