The Fahua Pagoda in Jiading is located in the center of Jiading Town, Jiading District. It is also known as Jinsha Pagoda. The Fahua Pagoda was built during the Kaixi period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1205 – 1207). At that time, this place was still called ‘Lianqi City’. Ten years later, Jiading was established as a county. The construction of the county town was centered around this tower as it was the highest point in the whole city and in the center of the four main streets of east, south, west, and north.
The tower was originally built during the Kaixi period of the Song Dynasty. Since then, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and the Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Jiaqing periods of the Qing Dynasty, it has been repaired to varying degrees. In January 1996, the underground palace of the Fahua Pagoda was cleared and excavated. A batch of precious cultural relics such as Buddha statues, books, ancient coins, and jade wares from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties were discovered successively. In 1996, the tower was restored according to the style of the Ming Dynasty. After the restoration, the Fahua Pagoda regained its inherent elegance of ‘bells ringing in the heavens’ and a three-dimensional floodlighting was set up for it, making the legend of ‘shining in four corners’ a reality. Today, the old street has formed a beautiful scenic spot of Jiangnan water town where one tower, two rivers, three streets, and four bridges are integrated.Opening hours: Open from Tuesday to Sunday throughout the year from 08:30 to 16:30; Closed all day on Monday throughout the year.
