Bank Loans to Rebuild Ancient PagodaA bank agreed Monday to a 60 million yuan (about US$7.2 million) loan to rebuild a famous ancient pagoda in this capital of east China's Zhejiang province, according to the bank director.Jiang Zhihua, the director of the Zhejiang Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China, said the bank is glad to finance the rebuilding of the Leifeng Pagoda. The bank won the bid for the rebuilding and a development program of the pagoda, a bank official said. The bank will take charge of ticket revenues after the pagoda is completed, according to bank sources. The pagoda was first built in 975 A.D. by a king to celebrate the birth of his son. The pagoda collapsed in 1924. The State Administration of Cultural Relics decided to excavate it last February, and stones with inscriptions of Buddhist scripture and gold and silver wares were found in the ruins. |
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