Nanjing City, Jiangsu, China

1. Monk Tang Pagoda on Jiuhua Hill

The Sanzang Pagoda is a small brick pagoda built in modem times after the Tang Dynasty style of pagodas. It is located on Fuzhou Hill (also called Little Jiuhua Hill) to the west of Taiping Gate of Nanjing City. At the end of 1942, during a survey of the old site of Sanzang Hall at Grand Bao'en Temple outside Zhonghua Gate of Nanjing, a skull believed to be that of a famous monk of the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang, was discovered. Some historians proposed that a pagoda be constructed especially for the skull, so Sanzang Pagoda was erected in 1944 and the relic buried inside.

It is a square brick pagoda of five storys, similar to the Xuanzang Pagoda at Xingjiao Temple in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Somewhat in the style of the Tang Dynasty, though not very big, the pagoda is a spectacular sight standing aloft on top of the hill beyond the city wails and against a background of picturesque Xuanwu Lake. The location of the pagoda is now a popular scenic spot that combines the beauty of mountains and lakes.