Ganzhou ancient pagoda

Ganzhou ancient pagoda

The ancient Ganzhou Pagoda in Zhangye is a combination of Chinese pagoda and Indian pagoda. The existing ones are wooden and earth towers. The structure of tower can be divided into solid tower and Pavilion tower. Solid tower is divided into Ayu king tower, close eaves tower, Lama tower, diamond pagoda; Pavilion tower is divided into close eaves Pavilion, brick and stone pavilion, brick and wood mixed type. Building materials are mainly wood, brick, stone, glass and iron. The shape of the tower is square, hexagonal, octagonal, dodecagonal and circular. The number of floors of the tower is odd. The famous five element pagodas are gold, wood, water, fire and earth.

Development history

The most interesting thing about Ganzhou wooden tower is a folk legend. It is said that one winter a long time ago, a man from Zhangye, a man from Wuwei and a man from Jiuquan lived together in a room in a shop, and the Kang in the room was only hot. So these three people suddenly think that they will win or lose by comparing the high and the low, and they will sleep in a hot place to win. Wuwei people scrambled to say: "we have a liudun in Wuwei, which is nine points away from the sky." Zhangye people then said: "there is a wooden pagoda temple in Zhangye, which is seven or eight feet away from the sky.". At this time, another customer came to the store, who was from Yongchang. Listening to others' comparison, he added: "there is a bell and Drum Tower in Yongchang, half of which is in the cloud.". On hearing this, the Jiuquan people said, "we have nothing in Jiuquan. I'll sleep on this hot Kang.". When he said that, he had already taken off his shoes and got on the Kang. The rest of them were staring at me. You looked at me, I looked at you, and I didn't say anything. The smart Zhangye people want to occupy the hot Kang with the height of the first tower in Hexi, but the clever Jiuquan people take the lead. The Wuwei people and Yongchang people wanted to suppress Zhangye people, but they didn't sleep on the hot Kang.

Ganzhou Wooden Pagoda, located in Zhangye City, was the site of Wanshou temple in Sui Dynasty. According to relevant documents, the wooden pagoda was built in 582 A.D. to house Sakyamuni's relic. According to legend, When Sakyamuni was in Nirvana, he got 84000 pieces of relic. King Ashoka built a tower from a bottle, and each one built a tower. There were 16 towers in Sinian, and Zhangye wooden tower was one of them.

There is also a moving legend in the process of construction. In the early days of the tower, because Ganzhou was located in a damp and watery place, and the foundation was soft, the tower could not be erected. It's very difficult for the master who is in charge of the tower to slay the dragon. One day, master Tulong was worried about building and erecting a pagoda. He began to sing "smoldering wine" alone. At this time, a young man came up and said to master Tulong, "master, I'll make a dish for you.". The Dragon butcher thought that he was looking for a job, so he didn't pay attention to it. When the young man brought the vegetables, some leeks were sprinkled on the white tofu. The white tofu was like cutting wood. The leeks were riveting. When he saw it, he suddenly realized that the young man's surname was Lu Ban, the founder of the carpenter. After Lu Ban's instruction, the master of dragon slaughtering still riveted the wooden pagoda, and it was sure that the pagoda stood up steadily. There is an iron pillar in the center of the wooden tower. If you stand at the bottom of the tower and work hard, the 33 meter high tower will rotate. In this way, you can balance the tower body in case of strong wind, which is the function of "riveting". Ganzhou wooden tower is famous in the world for its magnificent builders and superb plastic arts. The original tower has 15 floors. The wooden structure of the tower is covered with gold, which is magnificent. In particular, there is a basement at the base of the tower, with an iron column in the center, an iron base under it and the top of the tower. Standing on the iron base, the tourists can start the iron column to make the whole tower rotate. At that time, Persian envoys once looked at the wooden tower and exclaimed that "the workmanship of this tower can be used by carpenters, iron workers and painters in the world.". Another envoy of shahalu king of the western regions came to Zhangye, and wrote in his travel notes: "there are doors in each floor, painted, built with technical materials, pasted with gold, and the whole tower is strictly made of gold.". In the Qing Dynasty, although the wooden pagoda was reduced to nine stories, it was still magnificent. At that time, the whole temple (Wanshou Temple) was the oldest temple in the history of Zhangye. The Sutra house behind the pagoda is a two-story three eaves peak building. The top floor is surrounded by wooden railings. It complements the wooden pagoda with its dignified and elegant style. In addition to the wooden pagoda, there are also halls, verandahs, kitchens, mountain gates and other buildings, with 500 Arhats and 20 Dharma protectors. In particular, there is an ancient bell hanging on the top of the tower, which is exquisite in shape, loud in pronunciation, and the sound of impact can reach several miles. In the old days, it was called "Wooden Pagoda sparse bell", one of the eight scenic spots in Ganzhou. The ancient pagoda, which has been standing for more than 1000 years, was not destroyed by "black wind" in the Qing Dynasty.

The wooden pagoda that catches the eyes of visitors was rebuilt in 1926. The existing wooden pagoda, with a height of 312 meters and a total of nine floors, is a loft building of brick and wood structure. The shape of the tower is octahedron. The outside of the tower is a complete wooden frame. The inside of the tower is hollow and can't climb. Its inner diameter is about 3.3 meters. The tower body does not need to be riveted, but is made up of bucket arches, crossbeams and columns crisscross and pull each other. The earth platform, with a height of one meter and an area of about 20 square meters, is surrounded by granite hurdles and carved with auspicious patterns such as dragon and Phoenix, peacock and auspicious cloud, giving people a sense of solemnity. The bottom of the tower is supported by 20 thick columns. The first to seventh floors are brick walls and the outer eaves are made of wood. Eight wooden columns are evenly erected around each floor. Each floor has eight beams pointing to eight different directions. On the eight corners of each floor, there are wooden taps with precious beads in their mouths and wind bells at the bottom. When the breeze blows, the bells are ding dong, singing and singing with flying swallows. The top of the tower is in the shape of an umbrella, shrinking from bottom to top, with different doors and windows on each floor. The ancients once wrote a poem praising: "where is there no dragon? Birds are singing and flying. A tower is still green with clouds. The painted buildings are flying in the sky, and the snow mountains are full of snow. The remnant bells enter the Chai gate intermittently."

Main attractions

According to the annals of Ganzhou Prefecture, "a city with mountains, a half city with pagodas, continuous reeds and streams, and ancient temples all over the place" is the unique style of Zhangye. The towers of different sizes and shapes are magnificent. Zhangye is an important town on the silk road. After Buddhism was introduced into China, it soon flourished. There are many Buddhist temples, many Buddhists, morning bell and evening drum, and cigarette smoke, which attract some devout monks to come here for sightseeing and seeking Dharma. Among them, many Western monks come here, and then the form of building pagodas spread. Buddhism is spreading more and more widely, and there are more and more pagodas. The tower seen in Zhangye is a combination of Chinese tower and Indian tower. The structure of tower can be divided into solid tower and Pavilion tower. Solid tower is divided into Ayu king tower, close eaves tower, Lama tower, diamond pagoda; Pavilion tower is divided into close eaves Pavilion, brick and stone pavilion, brick and wood mixed type. Building materials are mainly wood, brick, stone, glass and iron. The shape of the tower is square, hexagonal, octagonal, dodecagonal and circular. The number of floors of the tower is odd. In the "half city tower shadow", the more famous are gold, wood, water, fire, earth five elements tower. There are only wooden and earth towers left. The wooden tower is a pavilion type tower. The earth pagoda, built in the Great Buddha Temple, is a covered bowl type pagoda, also known as the Lama pagoda. The burials also preserved the form of tombs. There are many towers of this type built in Zhangye, such as the Qifeng calm tower outside the east gate, the water tower outside the white pagoda temple outside the north gate, the fire tower outside the Chongqing temple outside the south gate, and the auspicious tower outside the Anyang high temple. They are all built for the cremation of the dead bodies of eminent monks, monks and lamas, so people call them monk graves. The special artistic style of this kind of tower is to fill the hollow tower body with dense eaves into a solid one. People can't climb to the top of the tower. In the lower part of the tower, a tall xumizuo is added, which is carved with rich images of Buddha, Bodhisattva, Jiyue and lion. Among the ancient pagodas in Zhangye, only the pagoda on the hall of the Great Buddha Temple is a pavilion style single-layer square Pagoda with vertical Buddha statues inside. Because of the loft type tower, although magnificent and tall, but the project cost is huge, only the emperor and the rich can build, the common people can't do anything. Therefore, in the ancient architecture, the pagodas of the covered bowl type generally rose, and the pagodas of the pavilion type gradually declined. Therefore, many ancient pagodas in Zhangye are Lama pagodas of the covered bowl type.

The earth pagoda, built in the Great Buddha Temple, is a covered bowl pagoda, also known as the Lama pagoda. The burials also preserved the form of tombs. There are many pagodas of this type, such as the Qifeng calm pagoda outside the east gate, the water pagoda outside the white pagoda temple outside the north gate, the fire pagoda outside the Chongqing temple outside the south gate, and the auspicious Pagoda in the Anyang high temple. They are all built for the cremation of the dead bodies of eminent monks, monks and lamas, so people call them monk graves. The special artistic style of this kind of tower is to fill the hollow tower body with dense eaves into a solid one. People can't climb to the top of the tower. In the lower part of the tower, a tall xumizuo is added, which is carved with rich images of Buddha, Bodhisattva, Jiyue and lion. Among the ancient pagodas, only the pagoda on the hall of the Great Buddha Temple is a pavilion style single-layer square Pagoda with vertical Buddha statues inside.

Adjacent attractions

Xinglongshan xiaosugan Lake Nature Reserve

Transfiguration monastery

Zhouzuling Forest Park

Yunyasi National Forest Park

Weiheyuan National Forest Park

Shoulushan Nature Reserve

related term

Beautiful scenery of Lianfeng mountain

Wang Mu Gong Shan

Zuo Gongliu

Zhuanglang terrace

Jieshipu Red Army Long March Memorial Hall

Pingliang pagoda of Ming Dynasty

Address: Ganzhou District, Zhangye City, Gansu Province

Longitude: 100.45139169764

Latitude: 38.932760426868

Tel: 0936-8211684

Ticket information: Free

Chinese PinYin : Gan Zhou Gu Ta