Meilang Twin Towers

Meilang Twin Towers

Meilang twin pagodas are ancient pagodas of Yuan Dynasty, commonly known as "sister pagodas". They are located in the southeast of meilang village, Meiting Township, Chengmai County, Hainan Province.

According to the records of Zhengde Qiongtai annals, Chen Daoxu had two daughters in Yuan Dynasty. The eldest daughter married and the second daughter became nuns. He built this tower in memory of his two daughters. One of the towers is hexagonal in plane and has six floors. It's like a wooden attic.

building structure

From the first floor to the third floor, there are 12 columns under the eaves of each floor, and a bucket arch is set to support the Fang. From the fourth floor, there are only semicircular leaning pillars on the outer wall of each floor. There are no Buddha statues in the niches with pointed coupons. There is a seated statue with a crown carved in the middle of the Xuxian seat.

The other plane is four corners, seven layers, and the exterior structure is the same as the upper tower. But it is more delicate. Each niche has carved Buddhist statues on the outer wall, and the different patterns of the upper chords are all decorated with lotus petals. Four sides are carved with the carved stone carving of the elephant, lion, tiger, horse, Kirin, and so on. The four corners are carved with the top of the *, and the brake is the top of the round round jewel. The distance between the two towers is 20 meters. There are tall platforms standing in the water of the mountain pool. There are railings around the platform, and there are classes.

Exquisite craftsmanship

Sister tower is hexagonal, sitting southeast to northwest, originally 7 floors, existing 6 floors, 17 meters high, the tower body is imitation wood hollow tube Gallery loft structure. The top of the tower is the jewelry top of Xianglun. The eaves of each floor are flat and curved. From the bottom to the third floor, there are 12 columns and brackets supporting the Fang. From the fourth floor, a semicircular leaning pillar is hidden on the outer wall, and there is no Buddha statue in the door niche. A crowned sitting statue is carved in the middle of xumizuo, which is exquisite and beautiful.

Mei tower is square, sitting from northeast to southwest, 7 stories, 13 meters high, the structure is the same as that of Jie tower, which is the style of imitation wood single wall empty tube Pavilion, and the shape is more delicate and beautiful than that of Jie tower. Each layer is carved with a Buddha statue in the inner niche and on the outer wall. The relief around xumizuo is exquisitely carved. There are tiger, horse, lion, elephant, unicorn and other auspicious animal patterns as well as Buddhist lotus petal patterns. The four corner pillars are decorated with vivid head support of the warrior. There are six Dharma protectors in the left and right niches of the pagoda, four dragon pillars with four corners, and corridors on the first and second floors. The Tasha is an inverted rosette, which bears seven layers of phase wheel and the top jewel of the Tasha.

The two towers, 20 meters apart, are respectively located on the tower foundations with stone column fences standing in the pool water. A platform is set in front of each tower foundation, and an arc-shaped approach bridge type stone ladder is used to connect the outside of the pool. Surrounded by clusters of bamboo, streams spring water, * quiet and quiet garden, still into a pure land. It is said that the elder sister later returned to the common customs and married, so the pagoda provided for the statues of civil and military officials; while the younger sister accompanied the Buddha all her life, so the statues of the pagoda were all Buddhist figures.

The overall shape of meilang twin pagodas is harmonious, the ware is beautiful, and there are changes with each other. Its carving is exquisite and meticulous, which is actually the art treasure of Qiongzhou stone pagoda. The twin towers are surrounded by luxuriant forests, green bamboos and dingdong streams. The environment is quiet and pleasant. Visitors can feel like entering a pure land and returning to nature.

Meilang twin pagoda is one of the few existing ancient pagodas in Hainan. It not only provides a direct basis for the study of the history of ancient civilization and architectural art in Hainan, but also has great tourism value.

Historical data

Meilang twin pagoda, also known as "sister pagoda", was built in the early Yuan Dynasty. It is a Buddhist relic stone pagoda. It was originally the former pagoda of jiruian, but now it has been destroyed for more than 800 years. Why is it also called "sister tower"? According to the records of Zhengde Qiongtai in Ming Dynasty, "Chen Daoxu, a native of Yuan Dynasty, has two daughters, who are good at living in the family nunnery. Daoxu donated 1000 yuan to build this tower. It is more than five Zhang high, with seven eaves, one hexagonal and one quadrangular. The stonework is exquisite. "

It was also recorded that Ji Ruian was in wangjiadu, Yuanjian, 40 Li south of the county. Chen Daoxu, a native, is the second daughter of Ni Shanchang. Pacifier Xie Tunan Bian Ming. The second tower of Mailang is in the deep field around the front of jiruian. " It can be seen from this that Chen Daoxu, a rich and well-off squire, donated "one thousand yuan" to build a double stone pagoda for his second daughter in memory of Lingzhao, the eldest daughter, who married a commoner, and Shanchang, the second daughter, who became a nun. At the same time, he also donated extra land to jiruian, a nun who became a nun. This trip shows the father's love for his daughter. So far, the twin towers stand side by side, and the agreement remains the same.

There is also a folk legend about the two sisters: Jie Lingzhao and Mei Shanchang have a coconut "cornucopia", in which there are always endless scoops of rice and gold and silver. They often take out rice and gold and silver from the "cornucopia" and distribute them to the poor villagers. In memory of their two daughters who believe in Buddhism, they build twin towers.

Modeling style

The overall shape of meilang twin towers is harmonious and beautiful, simple and unsophisticated. It is the most outstanding stone carving art with exquisite stonework and graceful appearance. Dozens of relief sculptures are exquisitely carved, the skirt of the statues is swaying, and the image is lifelike, reflecting the social and secular life in the late Song Dynasty and the early Yuan Dynasty, which can be called the outstanding art treasures in Qiongzhou stone pagoda. In particular, the building materials of the twin towers are basalt from Qiongbei volcanic area, and the construction technology adopts the unique way of tenon concave convex connection, and the stones are stacked without bonding. After more than 800 years of wind and rain erosion, although there are different degrees of weathering damage, the main building has not collapsed, which is rare in China.

Under the banyan tree beside the meilang Twin Towers stands a round head tortoise shaped basalt stone tablet. Due to the ruthless weathering of 800 years, it is impossible to identify the content of the original inscriptions, which has quietly left a little suspense for today's people. Tang silk, a Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty, sighed with nostalgia and wrote a poem praising: "Xizhu used to be a relic heaven, but it is also majestic to move to Qiongdao. It seems that the two Han Dynasties are competing for supremacy day, as if the two Qiao stand side by side in the new year. " The more romantic and moving meilang twin towers are covered with a veil of misty Miaoman.

Legend Art

The beautiful legend and the style art of the stone pagoda reflect the eternal true feelings of the people of Hainan. Meilang twin pagodas are worthy of being treasures in ancient Chinese pagodas. In 1996, it was announced by the State Council as "the fourth batch of key cultural relics protection units in China". It not only provides a direct basis for the study of the history of ancient civilization and architectural art in Hainan, but also has great tourism value.

Address: Chengmai County, Hainan Province

Longitude: 110.162902

Latitude: 19.802183

Chinese PinYin : Mei Lang Shuang Ta