Manfeilong Pagoda
The Manfeilong Pagoda is located on top of the mountain in Manfeilong Village in Jinhong County of Yunnan Province. The pagoda is a famous stupa group in Xishuanbanna. The white stupa looks like a white bottle gourd while the minarets look like bamboo shoots, hence the name "Bamboo Shoot Tower". Due to the white stupa, some people also called it the White Pagoda.
Crossing a river along Manfeilong Village, you'll come across more than 200 stone steps, which have a boundless virgin forest on the left side and an exuberant hurst of rubber plants on the right side. The pagoda, on a mountaintop, actually consists of 9 stupas, with the primary stupa in the center while the other 8 smaller stupas clustering to its base. The primary pagoda measures 16.29 meters and the 8 pagodas on the sides look like a group of children nestling around the mother. In each stupa, there is a niche featuring a Buddhist statue and a Buddhist relief, and on top of the niche is a flying phoenix. At the gate of each stupa are two giant dragons engraved out of earth. Bells hung on the stupas give wonderful tinkles in the breezes.
Below one of the stupas and in a niche the Buddha's footprint is enshrined. Legend has it that the 80 cm long and 58 cm wide footprint was left by Sakyamuni, the founder of the Buddhist religion, during his visit in the area.
Records in a sutra show that Manfeilong Pagoda was first built in 1204 (565 in the Dai calendar). It was designed by three monks from India and the design was executed under the sponsorship of the chieftain of Menglong tribe. After two renovates in modern times, the pagoda was listed as a national key cultural relic preservation site.
