Location
The Six Harmonies (Liuhe) Pagoda lies on Yuelun Hill on the north bank of the Qiantang River in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The name "six harmonies" comes from the six Buddhist ordinances, meaning "harmonies of the heaven, earth, north, south, east, and west". 

History
The Pagoda of Six Harmonies was first constructed in 970 during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) by Qian Hongchu, King of the Wuyue State, who ruled the area of today's Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. The purpose of building the pagoda was to suppress the tidewaters. It had nine storeys and was some 150 meters high. At night lanterns were lit on the pagoda so that ships and boats on the Qiantang River could use it as a navigation tower. The pagoda suffered repeated damage over about a thousand years. It was almost completely destroyed by war in 1121. Reconstruction started in 1153 and was completed in 1163. The height of the pagoda was reduced after reconstruction because there were only seven storeys left of the original nine. Major repairs were made again in 1524 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and in 1735 and 1900 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), but these repairs were on the outside eaves only. The brick body of the pagoda remained the same as in the Song Dynasty. Today some Song Dynasty inscriptions can still be found inside the pagoda. 

Introduction
Commanding a spectacular view of the surging Qiantang River, the pagoda presents a quiet image of age-old majesty. The original pagoda has nine storeys with a light on the top, which serves as a navigation tower. In 1156, the pagoda experienced a large-scale restoration. The artisans used carved bricks when reconstructing the inside of the pagoda. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the upturned wooden multi-eaves and wrapping structure was added to the pagoda and, in the eyes of the people, presented the soul and labor of the ancient Chinese.

The pagoda we see today is an octagonal structure 200 feet tall. Seen from the outside, the pagoda has the appearance of a 13-storey building; in actuality, there are only seven storeys. The extant pagoda is octagonal, with thirteen levels on the exterior but seven levels on the interior. It stands 59.89 meters high, and is one of the tallest pagodas in southern China.

The pagoda can be divided into four parts from the exterior to the interior, namely, the outer wall, the zigzag corridor, the inside wall and the little chamber. The corridor in-between connects the exterior with the interior; the winding staircases, linking the corridor parts, lead to the top level. The outer wall, with a thickness of 4.12 meters, has doors in the four sides. On the two side walls of the entrance connecting the exterior with the interior, there are engraved shrines. The four sides of the interior wall, with a thickness of 4.2 meters, also have doors. In the center of the pagoda is the little chamber which was originally used to place Buddhist Statues. Each storey has a square room, with a ceiling supported by brackets. In the pagoda there are more than two hundred sites of brick carvings, which feature a wide range of motifs, including megranate, lotus, phoenix, peacock, parrot, lion, kylin and so on. These brick carvings are rare material proofs of Chinese ancient architecture. 

Influence
The Six Harmonies Pagoda is definitely a masterpiece of ancient Chinese architecture that continually attracts visitors both home and abroad. Visitors here may be surprised and entertained not only by the long and splendid history of China but also the arts of Chinese calligraphy and seal-cutting. There are various sorts of stone tablets and stone statues both inside and out of the pagoda, left over from the past times. One may see relics such as a minister's tablet, a Buddhist scripture tablet, a god statue, a poem inscription, and similar artifacts from different dynasties.

In addition, the Center of Ancient Chinese Pagodas has opened near the pagoda. This features all kinds of ancient pagodas erected in the different areas and different dynasties, giving visitors an appreciation of the quintessence of ancient Chinese pagodas.