Liusheng Pagoda 六胜塔

About Liusheng Pagoda

Liusheng Pagoda (六胜塔) is a stone pagoda in Hanjiang Town (蚶江镇), Shishi (石狮), on the southern shore of Quanzhou Bay (泉州湾). It served as a major landmark for ships on the overseas routes of old Quanzhou (泉州).

The tower also goes by the names Rihu Pagoda (日湖塔) and Shihu Pagoda (石湖塔). Its first construction dates to 1111, in the Zhenghe (政和) reign of the Northern Song. It was rebuilt in 1285 under the Yuan dynasty, and another repair followed in 1336.

Although built of stone, the pagoda copies the form of a wooden pavilion-style tower. It has eight sides and five storeys and rises 36.06 m from a two-level Sumeru base (须弥座). Each storey has four doorways and four niches, and the walls carry reliefs of standing vajra guardians (金刚) and bodhisattvas (菩萨).

In 2006 the pagoda entered the sixth batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) as part of the Ancient Buildings of Quanzhou Port (泉州港古建筑). That group also covers the Zhenwu Temple (真武庙), Wanshou Pagoda (万寿塔), the Jiangkou docks (江口码头) and Shihu Dock (石湖码头), a wharf in the same town that the navigator Lin Luan (林銮) opened in the Tang dynasty. In July 2021 the pagoda was inscribed as one component of the World Heritage site 'Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China', whose sites are spread around the Quanzhou Bay area.

What to look for

• The eight-sided, five-storey stone tower, 36.06 m tall, shaped like a wooden pavilion pagoda
• The two-level Sumeru base (须弥座) the tower stands on
• Reliefs of standing vajra guardians (金刚) and bodhisattvas (菩萨) on the tower walls
• Four doorways and four niches on every storey
• Shihu Dock (石湖码头), a Tang-period wharf of Quanzhou port also in Hanjiang Town

Location & getting there

Getting to Liusheng Pagoda

• Search for 六胜塔 with 泉州市 and 石狮市.