Font tower

Font tower

The Ziku tower is called "Ziku" or "Xizi Palace" in Sichuan, and it is also called "Jingzi Pavilion", "Xizi tower" and "burning furnace" in other areas. It is a building specially used for burning paper in ancient times. According to historical records, the pagoda was first built in the Song Dynasty and was quite popular in the yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Introduction to scenic spots

The word bank tower is usually built at the entrance of the town, inside the academy and temple, beside the road and bridge, and some large families are built in their own courtyard. Most of the pagoda niches are dedicated to such deities as Cangjie, Wenchang and Kongsheng, and are matched with corresponding couplets and auspicious patterns.

From the outside, there are different styles and shapes of the word bank tower, most of them are hexagonal or octagonal, and some of them are simple four column. The tower body usually has a small hole, or square, or round or inverted U-shape, from which the lettering paper is put in. The top and body of the tower are decorated in different styles. Most of them are carved beams and painted buildings with outstanding features. Some of them are very simple, green bricks and green tiles, without more decoration. The character library tower is 9.2 meters high, hexagonal double-layer, the whole body is bluish gray.

According to reports, the word bank tower was built in Guangxu 6 years, in the 1960s, due to various reasons, the word bank tower was removed. Today's Ziku pagoda was built in recent years, but the local government took the old as old principle into consideration and adopted the brick of Qing Dynasty. These Qing Dynasty bricks are not imitations. They were bought from Daci Temple when it was demolished.

alias

"Zi Ku", "Xi Zi Gong", "Jing Zi Ting", "Xi Zi Ta", "Fen Zi Lu", "Shengji Ting", "Wen Feng Ta"

Construction background

Why did the ancients burn the waste paper in the specially built tower? This is a custom formed under the influence of the concepts of "cherishing words like gold" and "respecting heaven and cherishing words" in Chinese traditional culture. In the old days, scholars could not discard the waste paper at will, let alone wipe their buttocks. There is a folk saying that the waste of paper would lead to sores, diseases, blindness, punishment and harm to future generations. All used paper or waste books should be collected and burned in one place. Burning paper is very solemn, not only a special person, there are special etiquette, and built a special place and facilities. In the past, people in some places also organized "Xi Zi Hui". In addition to volunteering, people volunteered to go to the streets to collect calligraphy, and some were funded by local governments, rich families or temples to hire special personnel to collect calligraphy. Books are very sacred in the eyes of their ancestors. After all the used classics and history collections are worn out, they can't be discarded at will. First, they should be consecrated in the font tower for ten years and eight years, and then they should be sacrificed on auspicious days, and then burned.

Reasons for the rise

Mr. Liushahe said in his "hometown of strangers": old master he, who has a good farmland of 100 mu, suffers from eye disease and blurred vision. He carries a bamboo basket with "Jingxi writing paper" on his back every day, carries a pair of tongs with iron handle, picks up the writing paper along the street, puts it in the basket, and then carries it to the South Street font library for incineration, hoping to see the light again as soon as possible. According to the old people, the scene described by Mr. Liushahe can be seen in all the towns of Zigong in the past.

In addition to the worship of characters, the rise of the word bank tower was also closely related to the popularity of the imperial examination. In ancient times, if people want to be promoted to official positions, they can only enter the ranks of "civil servants" by passing the imperial examination. The concept of "learning well and being an official" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. It is natural that the worship of culture, respect for scholars, and then develop into the worship of characters. Naturally, the font tower has gradually become the carrier of characters and culture, so people worship and pray for a golden title.

The origin of word bank

"Ziku" - a name with a long history, is also a carrier of totem worship of literati with a long history. Today, it seems that it is no longer easy to see the fireworks curling up and the prosperity of the past. But as a kind of historical witness that is about to disappear, we can hardly see it again. Today, I see that although there are no ashes in the font tower and no afterglow after burning, through the small hole in the tower, I seem to see the piety of the literati when they burned the paper. It seems to be a kind of worship for the characters and a kind of respect for the characters as a carrier of civilization. Maybe this is the original reason for the existence of "font tower"? This is very obvious among Hakkas. Every Hakka residence has a Ziku tower. It is said that the Hakkas never litter the paper with words, but gather the paper with words and burn it in the library tower. Otherwise, it is disrespect for words and culture.

People's understanding

In fact, the simple understanding of the existence of the word bank tower is the respect for words and culture. I think that is one-sided and incomplete. Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Ziku pagoda has been popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. If it can exist forever in this millennium, and be popularized and popular, there must be a deeper reason. As long as we look at the history of writing, we may be able to find some reasons and evidences.

In ancient times, China has always been the source of worship of natural God. The ancestors' awe of characters originated from the legend of Cangjie's creation of characters. It is said that when Cangjie, the historian of the Yellow Emperor, created the characters, some earth shaking wonders appeared, such as "heavenly rain chestnut, ghost crying at night" and "dragon hiding", which implied the far-reaching significance of the characters in the development of human civilization. In our traditional culture, there is a unique custom -- "respect the heaven and cherish the word". As a result, burning paper became very solemn. There were not only special etiquette, but also special places and facilities. So the "library tower" came into being and became a small building specially built by the ancients to burn paper. It can be seen that the ancients cherished the calligraphy and paper, in fact, they worshipped the culture carried by the calligraphy and paper. People think that writing is "the heart of ancient sages", so writing paper should not be used filthy, but should be "eclosion into a butterfly", and the waste of writing paper will offend the gods, be punished and harm future generations; what's more, cheap writing paper will blind, filthy writing paper will get sick, etc. In fact, such respect should be said to be a positive one, which has greatly promoted the development of Chinese characters and culture. It has to be said that this is a unique cultural phenomenon in China. Because of this kind of respect, it has risen to a unique etiquette culture, a kind of etiquette for words and culture, and the word Kuta is a solidified symbol in the etiquette culture.

However, the respect for the pagoda of Chinese character bank also has one side of solidifying ideas, which is also mixed with the utilitarianism of the ancients. With the popularity of the imperial examination, the concept of "learning well is becoming an official" was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the word bank tower gradually evolved into a carrier of blessing. People set it up in Yamen and academies, some in temples, streets and rural areas, and some large families set it up in their own gardens to serve as literary gods such as Cangjie, Emperor Wenchang and sage Kong, hoping to be blessed and won the title. However, in the mainstream consciousness of China, which is guided by Confucian culture, it is normal to solidify such thoughts. It can also be understood in this way that people's thinking is constrained and guided from another moral point of view and developed into respect for words and paper, which is actually a kind of respect for culture. It also promotes the development of Chinese character bank culture and defends the existence of Chinese character bank for thousands of years.

I remember that when I was young, there was another way for the older generation. The author thinks that the writing is very spiritual and sacred. Even the discarded writing paper can't be ignored. It must be burned in the library tower.

The current font

Of course, the current word bank is only a witness of history, and no one uses the word bank. Even if someone "eclipses" the paper in the word bank, I think it's also a ceremony, a kind of memorial.

Address: Jiezi ancient town, Chongzhou, Chengdu

Longitude: 103.56003570557

Latitude: 30.81503673682

Chinese PinYin : Zi Ku Ta