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Beigu Shan
The Ganlu Si [Sweet Dew Monastery] is situated in the north-west corner of the city on the summit of Beigu Shan, a low hill with steep cliffs down to the coast. It is the site described in the old legend of the marriage of Liu Bei, the ruler of the Kingdom of Shu. Traditional operas and tales of teahouse story tellers based on this legend are still popular today. The romantic legend, which may have a genuine historical basis, is said to have taken place during the Three Kingdoms period, 2nd century AD, when Liu Bei was the ruler of the kingdom of Shu [in what is today Sichuan and then, one of the Three Kingdoms]. Liu went to the rival state of Wu [nowadays Jiangsu province and part of Zhejiang] and married as his secondary consort the sister of its ruler, Sun Ce, whom we have already mentioned. He is said to have either courted or married her in the Sweet Dew Monastery during his stay there. Another version claims that Liu Bei was invited by Sun to visit the Sweet Dew Monastery to meet his future mother-in-law. Sun actually planned to have Liu assassinated though Liu learned of the plan and escaped taking the ruler's sister, Sun Shangxiang, with him. Yet another version describes how Sun Quan, the king of Wu and brother of Sun Ce, was displeased by Liu Bei's failure to return a piece of land he had borrowed from Wu. Sun offered Liu the hand of his sister in marriage but planning all along to withdraw the marriage offer when the ceremony was about to be held and Liu Bei was in Wu territory. At the same time he would require Liu to hand back the land. Liu's secret agents warned him of the plan and Liu managed to get Sun Quan's mother and, of course, the prospective bride, to meet him at the Ganlu Temple. They were delighted with what they saw and immediately consented to the marriage. Sun was furious at being outsmarted and not only losing his sister but without even regaining the land.
The dating of Liu Bei's visit and the conventional date of the foundation of the temple during the Eastern Jin dynasty cannot be reconciled unless Liu Bei's host, Sun, had a palace on the site which two hundred years later was either converted into the temple or the temple was built on the site of the palace.
The Ganlu Si iron pagoda was first built during the Tang, originally with nine storeys. However, down the ages natural disasters have removed the top five, though a further two storeys have been added.