Shanghai Longhua tower

Longhua tower is a relic of the building in 977 A.D., the second year of Taiping Xingguo in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Located in Xuhui District of Shanghai, it is said that it was built by Sun Quan of the Three Kingdoms period (222-265) to honor his mother, so it is also known as the gratitude tower. The "Longhua" was awarded with the five color Buddhist relic that Xizhu Kangju monk's club had invited. It was destroyed by war in the late Tang Dynasty and rebuilt in 977. The tower is 40.40 meters high, with brick and wood structure, seven floors and eight sides. The cornice of each floor is high and the wind chime is hung at the corner. It is magnificent, beautiful and exquisite. At that time, when people went to the tower and looked into the distance, they could see the sails of Huangpu River, the vast expanse and the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan. As described in the poem: "the tower overlooks Pudong, the boats sail one by one, the scenery of the river village can be seen in Rao land, and the buildings near the water are different." The scenery here is beautiful. The shadow of Qiujiang tower has become one of the eight sceneries of Longhua, which is a good place for tourists. Longhua pagoda, known as the "crown of pagodas" in Shanghai, is opposite to Longhua temple.

Longhua tower

synonym

Shanghai Longhua tower generally refers to Longhua tower

Longhua tower, also known as "gratitude tower", was built in 247, the 10th year of Wu chiwu in the Three Kingdoms. It is located at 2853 Longhua Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai.

Longhua tower is a brick and wooden pavilion type tower with eight sides and seven floors, with a total height of 41.03 meters (from the ground floor of the gallery to the top). The height difference between the floor of the first floor of Longhua tower and that of the first floor gallery is 0.44m. Each floor extends a flat seat, surrounded by wooden railings, and overhanging eaves with bucket arches. The eaves are very wide, and the eaves are hung with iron horses (commonly known as bronze bells). On the basis of its own delicacy, lightness and elegance, Longhua tower integrates Wu Yue culture and is the product of the combination of Chinese and foreign architectural culture.

On May 25, 2006, Longhua tower was announced as the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

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Historical evolution

It is said that the Longhua pagoda was built in 247, the 10th year of Wu chiwu in the Three Kingdoms. It once had the names of "relic pagoda" and "gratitude pagoda" (it is said that Sun Quan built it to repay his mother's kindness). During the reign of Qianfu and Guangming (874-881), the pagoda was destroyed by war.

In 977, the second year of the Taiping reign of the Song Dynasty, Qian Ju, king of Wu and Yue, was rebuilt, which has a history of more than one thousand years.

In 1892, the bottom of the tower was destroyed by fire, and the painting monk Zhu Chan donated money to repair it.

In the summer of 1926, at about 10:00 a.m. on a certain day, lightning struck the Longhua tower and destroyed the north corner of the fourth floor and the third and fourth floor guardrails.

On August 25, 1966, some people, under the banner of "breaking the four olds", tied the Longhua tower with ropes, tried to pull it down, and then tried to burn it with gasoline. The residents strongly opposed but failed.

On August 18, September 11 and September 19, 1937, the Japanese army sent planes to bomb Longhua town several times, and the Longhua temple was also hit in many places, with ruins everywhere.

In 1954, the Shanghai Municipal People's government appropriated funds to overhaul the Longhua tower, demolish some buildings built in the period of the Republic of China that did not conform to the style of the original tower, as well as the stone ladder refitted in the Ming Dynasty, and restore the wooden ladder. During the construction, the song style brick arch was found on the eaves corner, and the arching with Yuanyang and the Song Dynasty tile was found under the tower.

In February 1955, Longhua pagoda was completed, and the pagoda reappeared the style of Song Dynasty.

In 1979, the state funded the comprehensive restoration of Longhua temple.

In 1982, termites were found in the core column of Longhua tower during renovation, and the construction team did not replace them due to limited technical force.

Since May 1984, Longhua tower has been overhauled again. A section about 10 meters above the tower core column was cut and replaced. The 6th and 7th floors of the tower were demolished and rebuilt, and the iron tower brake weighing 3.2 tons was recast and replaced.

In June 1985, the renovation of Longhua tower was completed.

In December 1990, the facade lighting installation project of Longhua tower was completed, 164 floodlights were installed on the tower body and eaves, and 20 floodlights were installed in the tower yard.

In 1999, the Municipal Cultural Administration Commission and Longhua Temple invested more than 900000 yuan to renovate and paint the tower and install optical fiber lighting.

Architectural features

structure

Longhua tower is a brick and wooden pavilion type tower with eight sides and seven floors, with a total height of 41.03 meters (from the ground floor of the gallery to the top). At the base of Longhua tower, there are wooden piles with a tail diameter of 130 mm. The wall of Longhua tower is built with solid sintered clay green brick. According to field measurement, the size of green brick is: one layer, 350 mm × 155 mm × 70 mm; three layers, 350 mm × 155 mm × 70 mm; five layers, 350 mm × 130 mm × 50 mm; seven layers, 350 mm × 130 mm × 50 mm. Masonry mortar is a mixture of yellow sand and lime. The brick tower wall is empty cylinder type, which is the main load-bearing component. The weight of the eaves, the roof and the overhanging flat seat is transferred to the tower wall through the bucket arch and other wood members. The wooden structure on the top of the tower is mainly composed of four inclined columns in the center of the tower. The weight of the whole top cover and the weight of the tower brake are transmitted to the tower wall through the inclined column, and the tower core column mainly plays the role of fixing the center.

characteristic

Longhua pagoda is a typical attic style Pagoda with regular and rhythmic shape. The plane is octagonal, regular and symmetrical, the facade adopts the technology of descending from bottom to top, and the tower body is a natural and gentle cone, which not only gives people a beautiful and comfortable feeling visually, but also increases the stability of the building in structure. There are four doors on each floor. On each upper floor, the orientation of the door turns 45 ° respectively, the appearance changes, and the tower wall bears uniform load. Longhua tower has good overall performance, thick brick walls, and each floor is constrained by wood structure, which is similar to the tube structure in modern high-rise buildings and has seismic capacity.

Cultural relics

The height difference between the floor of the first floor of Longhua tower and that of the first floor gallery is 0.44m. Each floor extends a flat seat, surrounded by wooden railings, and overhanging eaves with bucket arches. The eaves are very wide, and the eaves are hung with iron horses (commonly known as bronze bells). There are four doors on each floor. On each upper floor, the orientation of the door turns 45 ° respectively. The appearance is varied and the bearing capacity of the tower wall is uniform. The inner and outer walls of the bottom tower are octagonal, the outer side is 2.55 meters long, the wall is 1.33 meters thick, and the four doors are facing east, South, West and North. There are 8 corridor columns on the outside of the tower, which are connected with the tower by wooden frame. Since the second floor, the height and area are shrinking layer by layer, so the tower body appears stable and slender. The outer side of the tower wall is octagonal and the inner side is square. On the sixth floor, an 18 meter long tower core column is set at the center of the tower, which goes straight to the top of the tower. The top is the Tasha, which is composed of 18 parts, such as "Baoping", "Xianglun", "dew pan", "covered basin" and "langfengsuo", with a weight of 3.2 tons. Except for "langfengsuo", they are all set on the central column of the tower. Each layer of eaves and the roof of the top layer are cantilevered by bucket arches, and the rafters are paved with wooden watchboards. The eaves and roof are paved with cylindrical tiles, and the eaves are used as tiles and dripping water. Wooden grating and Watchboard are laid on the bucket arch of overhanging flat seat of each floor, and floor tiles are laid on the Watchboard. The floor of each floor is wooden floor with floor tiles. The stairs are indoor wooden stairs.

Research value

On the basis of its own delicacy, lightness and elegance, Longhua tower integrates Wu Yue culture and is the product of the combination of Chinese and foreign architectural culture. It is a typical representative of regional architectural culture and an artistic manifestation of different regional architectural aesthetic styles, which has important historical value.

protective measures

On May 25, 2006, Longhua tower was announced as the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

History and culture

Longhua pagoda has a closer relationship with Buddhism and is used to store Buddhist relics. It is said that the Longhua pagoda was built by Sun Quan of the Three Kingdoms to praise the merits of his mother and honor his mother, also known as the tower of repaying kindness.

Tourism information

address

Longhua tower is located at 2853 Longhua Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai.

traffic

Take Shanghai bus 44, 56, 87, 41, 104, 167, 733, 932, 178, 864 and rail transit lines 11 and 12.

Address: 2853 Longhua Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai

Longitude: 121.4513848974

Latitude: 31.172537500949

Tel: 021-64566085

Traffic information: bus 41, 44, 809, 734, 933, 864, 73, 87, 104, 166, 733, rail line 3 (under Longcao Road Station)

Ticket information: Free

Opening hours: all day

Chinese PinYin : Shang Hai Long Hua Ta