Tiger Hill, Suzhou
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Tiger Hill is a hill in Suzhou, in China. It is a popular tourist destination and is known for its natural beauty as well as historical sites. The hill is so-named because it is said to look like a crouching tiger. Another legend states that a white tiger appeared on the hill to guard it following the burial of King Helu. The hill is sometimes referred to in parallel with "Lion Mountain", another hill near Suzhou which clearly resembles a sitting lion.
The hill has been a tourist destination for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, as is evident from the poetry and calligraphy carved into rocks on the hill.
Its features include:
- Sword-Testing Rock: a rock in two pieces that was supposedly cleaved cleanly by a legendary sword of extraordinary sharpness
- Spring of Simplicity and Honesty: a well that, according to legend, first appeared as a spring to an exhausted monk carrying water up the entire length of the hill
- Yunyan Pagoda: a pagoda seven stories in height whose main architectural feature is its lean; it in fact predates and is taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa
- the Sword Pond: a small rectangular pond, beneath which a treasure of some 3000 swords are believed to have been buried; this site is not excavated because the Leaning Pagoda's foundations rest on the site