Tieling white tower

Tieling white tower

Tieling White Pagoda, formerly known as Yuantong Temple Pagoda, is commonly known as Tieling white pagoda. This tower is located in the southeast of Yinzhou Trade City in Tieling City, and in the northwest corner of ancient Tieling City. It is the earliest existing ancient tower in northern Liaoning. The tower was dilapidated in the Ming Dynasty. In the 19th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Mrs. Li Chengliang, commander in chief of Liaodong, paid for the repair.

brief introduction

Some articles said that it was built in the Tang Dynasty, mainly based on the stone inscription of Yuantong Temple, which recorded that the tower was built in the second year of Taihe in the Tang Dynasty. However, according to the textual research, the history of Yinzhou did not begin in the Tang Dynasty. For details, please refer to the article "textual research of ancient Yinzhou" in this book. Referring to a variety of historical materials, Tieling white tower does not have the characteristics of Tang Dynasty tower. The brick used in the tower is called gouwen brick in archaeology, which is the characteristic brick of Liao Dynasty. There was no such brick before Liao Dynasty. It was identified by the cultural relics department. It is impossible to use Liao brick to build the tower in Tang Dynasty, so the date of the stone tablet is not reliable. According to the Japanese version of Manchuria photo post, this tower is a Liao tower. Some articles say that this tower was built in the year of Jin Dading, but no matter how it was, it will not be earlier than Liao Dynasty.

Historical evolution

The tower was dilapidated in the Ming Dynasty. In the 19th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Mrs. Li Chengliang, commander in chief of Liaodong, paid for the repair. The pagoda is octagonal 13 solid eaves type. The body of the pagoda is made of green bricks. The bricks are 2 feet 4 inches long and 6 inches thick. Slightly tapered. On the top of the tower, there are copper plates and pearls. On the eight sides of the tower base, there are eight characters "good weather, peace and stability of the country and the people". On each side, there is a relief Buddha statue and a treasure cap. In the south of the first level tower is the statue of god Buddha. The lower part of the tower's eaves is decorated with brick arches, and the tower base and body are decorated with brick carvings. The eaves of each tower are hung with bronze mirrors and bell fronts. The body of the tower is painted white, so it is called white tower. In ancient times, the tower was the tallest building in the city, which was recorded in the annals as "visible from twenty miles away". Every time after the rain, the tower is high and the clouds are low, and the clouds float between the towers, so it has the reputation of "white tower with horizontal clouds". The ancients once praised the beautiful scenery of the White Pagoda with the poem "the mountain rains over the city, the rain is clear and the clouds are not scattered; suddenly the tip of the white pagoda is seen, and the sky is half blue".

On February 4, 1975, the Haicheng earthquake affected Tieling, and the top of Chuanhu pagoda on the white pagoda was shaken down. Because the brake rod was connected with iron chain, the brake tip was inserted obliquely into the South eaves of the third tower. When I was shooting "New Year's Day" in Tieling, I used to take it as a scene.

In 1987, Tieling City restored the pagoda, but because it did not fully comply with the cultural relic restoration method, although the newly restored white pagoda took on a new look, the restoration of cultural relic value was not ideal.

Address: Center of Yinzhou District, Tieling City, Liaoning Province

Longitude: 123.84167411689

Latitude: 42.28221269181

Chinese PinYin : Tie Ling Bai Ta