Hǎikāng

Haikang was the county sharing the seat of Leizhou prefecture, in the middle of the Leizhou peninsula. The county name dated to the Sui dynasty; by the Ming and Qing it belonged to a long-established administrative centre.

One of the town's most distinctive monuments arose in the late Ming. Work on the Sanyuan Pagoda began in January 1613 and ended in April 1615. Originally called Wenkui or Qixiu Pagoda, it acquired its better-known name through a story about three snake eggs found while its foundations were dug. These were interpreted as an auspicious sign of success at the three levels of the civil examinations. Its brick-and-timber tower rises from a carved stone base and carries Ming relief carvings, joining architectural display with the hopes attached to scholarly achievement.