Ci’en Pagoda

A nine-storey pagoda that Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) built in memory of his mother Wang Caiyu (王采玉), completed in January 1971 on Mount Shabalan (沙巴蘭山) above the southern shore of Sun Moon Lake (日月潭). The 46-meter tower rises to 1,000 meters above sea level; its top two storeys held a memorial shrine to Wang, and the bronze bell at the summit was donated by Hanbilou, Chiang’s lakeside retreat. A two-storey memorial hall opposite the pagoda contains a rest room kept for Chiang and a basement display of construction photographs and design drawings bearing his handwritten revisions.