Shuixi Twin Towers

Shuixi Twin Towers

Shuixi twin towers are located on the left and right sides of Baosheng temple, 2km west of Jingxian County, Anhui Province. It is located to the west of Jingshui (formerly known as Shangxi), so it is called "Shuixi". In ancient times, it was a Buddhist resort.

Shuixi twin towers, one for the Grand View tower, one for the small square tower. Shuixi twin towers, with exquisite architectural structure and exquisite carving art, show the wisdom and artistic creativity of the ancient working people. They are the representative works of ancient Chinese architecture.

In 2001, Shuixi twin towers was announced by the State Council as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Historical evolution

Lingyan temple was built in 508, the first year of Yongping in the Northern Wei Dynasty. It was restored many times in the Tang and Song Dynasties and was renamed Baosheng temple. Pagodas were built in the Tang Dynasty. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were pavilions such as Qingshuang Pavilion, Yanyu Pavilion, splashing jade Pavilion, Yunjin hall and a Shuixi jingshe Academy.

Daguan tower was built in 1108, the second year of Daguan in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was also called "Chongning tower" because it was built in the Chongning period of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Xiaofangta, built in Shaoxing period of Southern Song Dynasty, is also called Shaoxing tower.

Site features

Grand View tower

Daguan tower, a pavilion style brick tower, has eight sides and seven floors, 45 meters in height, 12 meters in diameter at the bottom and 3.5 meters in wall thickness. Each side has a brick ring arch. The short eaves are built layer by layer with overlapping method. Under the eaves, the brick is used to make a bucket arch. Each layer has a double eaves. The bricks are scattered in a neat and elegant pattern. The corner between the layers is built into a semi-circular column with semi-circular bricks, which makes the whole tower appear harmonious, magnificent and elegant. This tower has a unique shape. The tower is thick, octagonal, and the upper and lower 7 layers have no obvious harvest.

Small square pagoda

The small square pagoda is located on the right side of Baosheng temple. Because the body of the pagoda is square and the Daguan pagoda on the near side of the pagoda is small, it gets this name. It is also called Shaoxing tower because it was built in Shaoxing period of Southern Song Dynasty. The tower is a pavilion type brick structure with 7 floors and 4 sides. The diameter of the bottom floor is 3.5m and the height is 21.3m. On the first floor, there are stone Buddha statues on the north and south walls of the tower, and the north side of the Buddha statues is relief Buddha light.

Cultural relics

Stone Carving

In 1991, the Department of cultural relics surveyed the daguanta, and found 36 inlaid stone carvings of the Song Dynasty on the inner and outer walls of the second floor of the house on the seventh floor. Among them, there was a long stone carvings by Bao Zheng, a "Nantang resident" in the fifth year of the reign of song Zhenghe (1115). On the inner wall of the sixth floor, an inscription reads: "the A thirteen storey Sakyamuni pagoda was built in Baosheng temple to serve as a refuge for all living beings In March of the sixth year of Zhenghe. According to this inscription, the reason for the tower's strong and thick shape may be that it planned to build 13 floors. Due to frequent wars and social and economic depression in the late Northern Song Dynasty, the construction of the seventh floor was not continued. Other stone inscriptions record the donation of money and blessing by the faithful men and women at that time.

Memorial tablet

On the first floor of Xiaofang pagoda, there is also a memorial tablet of Xiaofang, which records the construction of the pagoda by Mei Quan and his family in Jingxian County in March 1161. According to the records of Jingxian County in the Qing Dynasty, there are more than 10 inscriptions and Buddhist scriptures on the tower.

Research value

Shuixi twin towers are the largest brick and wood mixed towers in Song Dynasty in Anhui Province. The French style of their brackets reflects the typical official architectural style of Song Dynasty. The two towers reflect the architectural features of Song Dynasty in terms of plane, exterior structure and architectural details. It is a precious material for the study of Buddhism and its architecture in southern Anhui in Song Dynasty.

protective measures

In September 1981, Shuixi twin towers was declared as a key cultural relic protection unit by Anhui provincial government.

In 2001, Shuixi twin towers was announced by the State Council as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

In 2015, the special subsidy fund for key cultural relics protection of the State Administration of cultural relics invested 800000 yuan for the comprehensive maintenance of the two towers.

In July 2018, the State Administration of cultural relics approved the cultural relic guarantee [2018] No. 712 on the construction and renovation project of Baosheng temple in Jing County within the protection scope and construction control zone of Shuixi twin towers.

History and culture

Inscriptions

Daguan tower has a unique shape, heavy body, octahedral and octagonal, seven floors up and down, but there is no harvest, which is similar to a cylinder. The inside and outside walls of the pagoda are inlaid with 36 square stone inscriptions of different sizes. Among them, there is an inscription on the inner wall of the sixth floor that reads: "there is a stone inscription on the wall of the pagoda Baosheng temple built a thirteen storey Sakyamuni pagoda to serve as a refuge for all living beings In the sixth year of Zhenghe (1116), the sun was seen in March. It can be seen from this inscription that the original plan of the ancient pagoda was to build 13 storeys. Due to frequent wars in the late Northern Song Dynasty and limited financial resources, there was no power to continue to build the seventh storey, so the lower half of the pagoda was left with the same thickness. From the investigation of the top of the pagoda, the reason is more obvious. The top of the pagoda was built of brick dome, and the top was hastily closed by overlapping method, which is extremely exquisite It is not clear that the above-mentioned Tasha was destroyed by the Taiping army. The Grand View Pagoda in Jing county annals of the Qing Dynasty has no Pagoda Temple, just a branch of a tree on the top of the pagoda. So some people speculate that the pagoda may not have an ancient temple when it was born, perhaps because the builders at that time left it for later generations to build.

County records

Daguan tower is also known as Chongning tower. According to the records of Jingxian County in the Qing Dynasty, "the pagoda in front of Baosheng temple is Chongning pagoda. It was built at the grand view, which means that it originated from Chongning and became at the grand view." In fact, these two pagodas were not built in Daguan, but in Zhenghe and Chonghe. However, they were brewing and preparing in Chongning. Finally, they started construction in 1108, the second year of Daguan, and the sixth year of Zhenghe (1116). It took three dynasties and more than ten years to build them. It is obvious that the construction of this pagoda is extremely difficult. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the national strength became weaker and the social economy became more depressed. The local people were unable to continue to complete the pagoda. Ciguo continued to build the upper part of the pagoda, and the amount of work was much more than that of the lower part of the pagoda). Even the pagoda was not installed. However, due to the piety and belief in Buddhism and the need of temple architectural layout, the local people had to do what they could and built a pagoda on the left There is a small square tower. Of course, another possibility is that the founder of this small square pagoda is another branch of Buddhism. It turns out that there is a temple called Chongqing temple, and the small square tower is behind the temple. In ancient times, there were many temples in Jing County, most of which had pagodas. According to the custom of having pagodas when there were temples, small square pagodas were built in Chongqing temple. Although the small square tower, regardless of its size, size. The cost and construction technology of the pagoda are much simpler than that of the Grand View pagoda, but it reflects the same Buddhist ideas. The pagoda is square, the outer side of the bottom layer is 3.5 meters long (only a little wider than the wall thickness of Daguan pagoda). On the first layer, there are stone Buddha statues on the north and south sides of the pagoda, with relief Buddha light on the back. There are more than ten square steles and Buddhist scriptures on the pagoda.

Ancient legends

It turns out that this is a centipede mountain that is about to be refined. After the centipede is refined, there will be three Dou and five Sheng sesame officials in Jingxian county. That is to say, every person in Jingxian county can be an official. At that time, the magistrate was a stranger. Because of jealousy and other reasons, he was afraid of the centipede becoming refined, so he invited a wizard from other places to break the law and build a big pagoda at the head and a small pagoda at the tail of the centipede mountain to kill the centipede As a result, few people in Jingxian came out to be officials. Obviously, this is a myth made up by the local people. However, the construction of these two pagodas was closely related to the popularity of Buddhism at that time. As early as the first year of Yongping in the Northern Wei Dynasty (508), a rafter temple was built here, which is called Lingyan temple. In the first year of Shangyuan in the Tang Dynasty (674), it was rebuilt, which is called Tiangong Shuixi temple. Zen master huangba, a famous monk in the Tang Dynasty, once lived here. It can be said that the incense is very popular, and it has become a famous Buddhist holy land in the south of the Yangtze River. The two pagodas of Song Dynasty were built on the left and right sides of Baosheng temple, with the obvious purpose of "serving as the home for all living beings". The Yishu inscriptions of the two towers record in detail the donation and blessing of the faithful men and women at that time.

Tourism information

geographical position

Jingxian County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province.

Opening Hours

9:00-17:00

Traffic information

Anhui Jiangxi railway double track and Xuanhang railway, national highway 318 and national highway 275 run through the whole territory. You can take a taxi to the scenic spot in the city.

Address: the foot of Baiyun Mountain, Jing County, Anhui Province

Longitude: 118.39180410763

Latitude: 30.693472551792

Chinese PinYin : Shui Xi Shuang Ta