Four Gate Pagoda (Simen Ta)

The Four Gate Pagoda (Simen Ta) stands 15 kilometres south of Jinan's city center in the Liubu Hills, a small stone monument that is, against all expectation, the oldest surviving pagoda in China. Built in 611 CE, it sits in a landscape of wooded hills, carved rock faces, and scattered Tang-era stone sculptures that together form the Shentong Temple Heritage Site — a UNESCO-listed ensemble that most visitors to Jinan miss entirely.

The surrounding area contains the Dragon-and-Tiger Pagoda (a Tang-era twin-column structure), the Sima Chengzhen Hall with its rock carvings, and a substantial carved cliff face with Buddhist figures. The whole site takes about two hours to explore properly. Bus 50 from Jinan's center reaches the area in about an hour; a taxi takes 30 minutes. Worth every minute for anyone interested in early Chinese Buddhism and medieval stone carving.

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A story
The Four Gate Pagoda was built in 611 CE, during the Sui Dynasty, making it the oldest surviving stone pagoda in China. It was built to house Buddhist relics and originally stood within the Shentong Temple complex, which was one of the great monasteries of northern China until its destruction in later centuries. The pagoda's single-storey form — four arched doorways opening to the four cardinal directions — predates the multi-storey pagoda style that became standard under the Tang Dynasty.

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