Atlas of China
Eastern and Western Pagodas 东西寺塔Dōngxī Sì Tǎ
National heritage site · Kunming, Yunnan
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Days to budget
- Half a day
- City
- Kunming
- Region
- Yunnan
- Type
- Heritage
- Listed as
- National heritage site
About Eastern and Western Pagodas
Two 13-storey brick pagodas in the dense-eave style, about 400 metres apart in central Kunming, first built under the Nanzhao kingdom in the 9th century. The Western Pagoda, about 35 metres tall, was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1499, and the taller Eastern Pagoda, about 40 metres, was rebuilt on a new site in the 1880s after an earthquake brought it down in 1833; each is crowned with four bronze 'golden cockerels'. A pedestrian street laid out in 2002 links the two.
How to get to Eastern and Western Pagodas
In the city centre, about 2 km south of Green Lake, an easy walk or short taxi ride.
Nearby
- Green Lake Park 翠湖公园 under 10 km
Kunming's favourite park, where wintering gulls wheel over willow-lined causeways - Western Hills & Dragon Gate 西山龙门 10 km
Taoist grottoes and a single-file ledge path cut into a cliff high above Dianchi Lake - Chengjiang Fossil Site & Fuxian Lake 澄江化石地与抚仙湖 50 km
Half-billion-year-old fossils of early animals beside one of China's deepest lakes
Also within 20 km: Fulintang Pharmacy 福林堂 (under 10 km), Anti-Japanese War Victory Memorial Hall, Kunming 抗战胜利纪念堂 (under 10 km), Zhenqing Taoist Temple 真庆观 (under 10 km), Dizang Temple Sutra Pillar 地藏寺经幢 (under 10 km), Lu Han's Mansion 卢汉公馆 (under 10 km), Yunnan Military Academy 云南陆军讲武堂 (under 10 km).
On the map
Open Eastern and Western Pagodas on the illustrated map to see the terrain around it and what else is close, and to add it to a trip.
Open Eastern and Western Pagodas on the map