Nanzhao iron pillar

Nanzhao iron pillar

Nanzhao Tiezhu is located in the original Tiezhu temple in Miaoqian village, Taihua Township, 6 kilometers northwest of Midu County, Yunnan Province. Tiezhu temple, historically known as Tiezhu palace or Tiezhu temple, consists of three parts: Mountain Gate, front yard and back yard, covering an area of 5541 square meters and a building area of 1542 square meters. The iron pillar stands in the center of the main hall of the front yard.

Historical origin

Nanzhao iron column, commonly known as Tianzun column, is a cylindrical column with a height of 3.3 meters and a diameter of 32.7 cm. It is made of iron and weighs 2069 kg. The body of the column is inscribed with 22 characters: "the 13th year of weijianji, the second Renchen, April 14, gengzishuo, the 14th day of Guichou", which is engraved with a single convex line.

Jianji is the year of Shilong, the 11th king of Nanzhao. The 13th year of Jianji is the 13th year of Xiantong (872). Nanzhao iron pillar is the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Nanzhao Tiezhu is located in tiezhumiao Village (formerly known as tiezhuyi) about 6 kilometers west of Midu County, which belongs to Taihua township. In ancient times, this area was the white cliff of bolongchuan. Bolongchuan is now Midu dam. After the Qing Dynasty, due to the taboo of white characters, Baiya was changed to Hongya. The scope of ancient Baiya village was wider than that of Hongyan village.

There is Baiya city in Baiya Town, which is the ruling center of "Baizi country" in legend. After Nanzhao became powerful, Luo Feng, the king of Nanzhao, occupied Baiya city and built a new city outside the old city to accommodate his stepmother and half brother. Manshu has a very specific description of Baiya City: "Baiya city is in bolongchuan The city is ten feet high and surrounded by water, but the north and South gates are open.

The south corner is the old city, surrounded by two Li. In the new city in the northeast corner, Luo Feng, a pavilion built in the seventh year of Dali, is surrounded by four Li. " There is a hall in the new town, with winding veranda, orange and orange green behind, and thick bamboo groves outside the north gate. Each tree is as thick as a human leg and more than 100 feet high. The environment is very quiet.

Bolongchuan was the manor of middle-level officials in Nanzhao. About 20 miles south of Baiya City, there is Manzi City, probably near the present Midu County. The iron pillar of Nanzhao was between the two cities, which was the important ruling area of Nanzhao.

Historical records

The Tiezhu temple in Nanzhao was called "Tiezhu Temple" or "Tiezhu Temple" in ancient times. Guo Songnian, the court official in the early Yuan Dynasty, wrote in the book of Dali: "baiyadian There are ancient temples and iron pillars in the southwest. " It can be seen that Tiezhu temple was built before the Yuan Dynasty.

It was rebuilt in 1665, the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, and rebuilt in 1784. At that time, the temple covered an area of 5541 square meters, with a construction area of 1542 square meters. The outer courtyard was composed of dazhaobi, outer stage, square, inkstone pool and three arch stone bridge; the backyard was composed of Sanhuang hall, Notre Dame hall, Tuzhu hall and North Wing room. The iron pillar stands in the center of the main hall of the front yard.

Repair successively

Later, Tiezhu temple was seriously damaged due to disrepair. Since 1978, the main hall, the three arch stone bridge and the big screen wall have been restored. The "Wei Zhen Kun Mi" at the gate of the hall, the plaque on the top of the Buddhist niche and the long couplet written by Li Ju Cun, a scholar in Midu during the reign of Daoguang, have been erected again. This couplet contains the history and related folk customs of the iron pillar: Lusheng saizu, yurt hat Dage, the name of the pillar Tianzun, the golden thread flying around the old base; Meng Shi buried, Zhao Bei moss eroded, a few words left in the Tang Dynasty, there is a wasteland temple in the depth of colorful clouds.

Nanzhao iron pillar is also known as yashuan iron pillar, Jianning iron pillar or Tianzun iron pillar. The column is cylindrical, black, iron, solid, weighing about 2069 kg, 3.3 meters high and 32.7 cm in diameter. It is made of five sections.

The top of the column is a cone-shaped pit, 7 cm deep, with three Yakou, each covered with a carved wooden dragon and an iron hat (shaped like a pot). There is a 91 cm long and 8 cm wide convex wire frame in the West Center of the column. In the middle of the column, there are 22 characters in the regular script "weijianji 13 years old second Renchen April gengzishuo 14 days Guichou establishment". Ruan Fu, a stone expert in the Qing Dynasty, once said that the 22 characters "are slightly smaller than those of zhongnianyuekuan in Chongsheng Temple (Jianji) and have a unique style. They should be written by one person.". Jianji is the year of Shilong, the 11th king of Nanzhao. In 872, it was the 13th year of Xiantong, Yizong of Tang Dynasty.

Cultural relics protection

There were two statues of men and women on the left and right sides of the iron pillar. It is said that they are the statues of Shilong and his concubine in Nanzhao. Another way of saying is that they are the statues of Meng Huo and his wife. In front of the central pillar is the memorial tablet of marquis Wu of Zhuge, which has been destroyed. On the 15th of the first month of each year, the Yi people nearby come to sacrifice to the Tuzhu (named as the great black god of chilingjing emperor) by slaughtering pigs and sheep, and sing songs to entertain the God at night. Nanzhao iron pillar is also one of the rare cultural relics in Nanzhao, which reflects the religious belief and the level of iron smelting technology at that time. The historical materials are of high value. In January 1988, it was announced as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council.

The establishment of Nanzhao iron pillar was related to religion. Sacrificial column is an ancient form of religious sacrifice of some ethnic minorities in Yunnan, which has a long history. There are "killing sacrificial column cover" shell storage vessels unearthed from the ancient tombs of the Warring States period in Shizhaishan of Jinning and Lijiashan of Jiangchuan.

Sacrificial activities

In Nanzhao Tuzhuan of Nanzhao in the second year of Nanzhao's resurgence, the iron pillars in the scene of sacrificing pillars are very similar to those of Nanzhao. It is said that Zhang lejin, the kingdom of Baizi, once offered sacrifices to establish a league in front of the iron pillars when he wanted to abdicate the throne of sinuro. In connection, the nearby yuebaizi kingdom is not nothing.

There are many legends about the reasons for the columns. One of the most popular theories is that Zhuge Liang pacified Nanman, handed over weapons and cast iron pillars for meritorious service, which was later recast by Nanzhao Shilong. However, there is no solid historical basis for this statement, and Guo Songnian flatly denied the statement of "ZHUGE Jigong column".

As for the "iron pillar of the Tang Dynasty", there is a record in the historical books that "the imperial envoy of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Jiuzheng, set up the bronze pillar in Tuanxi of DIANCANG mountain". According to research, "Tuanxi" is located in Yangbi county. This has nothing to do with the iron pillar of Nanzhao, which is the conclusion of historians.

The mystery of not falling

doubt

An iron pillar with a diameter of 33 cm and a height of 3.3 meters, without any protection measures, has survived many earthquakes, but it has been standing for thousands of years. This is the only existing iron pillar in Midu County. In the Daguanlou couplet, which is the first one in the world, it records the cultural and military achievements and territory expansion of the Central Plains Dynasty in Yunnan since the Han Dynasty. Now, the three events of "Han Xi Lou Chuan", "Song Dynasty wielding Jade axe" and "Yuan Kua Ge Nang" have come to a conclusion. Only the issue of "Tang Biao tie Zhu" and its site has been controversial. Then, is the iron pillar of Midu County the "iron pillar of Tang Dynasty" in the long couplet of Daguanlou? If so, why does the Millennium rust not fall?

dispute

"Jigong column" or "sacrificial column"?

From Midu County of Dali Prefecture, go straight to the northwest, about 6 kilometers away, to Tiezhu temple in miaojian village of Taihua township. A group of stone tablets at the gate of the temple illustrates the significance of the iron pillar: "Nanzhao iron pillar was listed as a national cultural relic protection unit by the State Council in 1988.". Entering the temple gate, a complete set of imitated Tang architecture came into view, with three courtyards, one arch bridge, one inkstone pool and two theatres. In the innermost courtyard stands an iron pillar with a diameter of 33 cm and a height of 3.3 meters. On the body of the iron pillar, a line of characters is engraved to mark the time of the pillar, "the 13th year of weijianji, Renchen, was founded on April 14, gengzishuo.". The Nanzhao iron pillar in Midu County has become the only surviving iron pillar so far. Is it the "Tang standard iron pillar"?

Zhang Zhao, 62 years old, has been in charge of cultural relics in the County Cultural Center since the early 1970s. In 1998, Midu County set up the cultural management office, and he served as the director. It can be said that in the study of Tiezhu, he is the "first person" in Midu County. Zhang Zhao explained that sun ranweng mentioned "Tang Biao tie Zhu" in the couplet of Daguanlou. At present, the historians have recognized the following views: in the third year of emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty (707 AD), he supervised the imperial censor Tang Jiuzheng cast iron column to record his achievements. In other words, many historians believe that Tang Biao tie Zhu is the "Ji Gong Zhu" of Tang Dynasty.

Tang Biao tie Zhu

However, the inscription on the body of Nanzhao iron pillar is "the 13th year of weijianji", which is the year of mengshilong, the 11th king of Nanzhao. The 13th year of Jianji is 872 A.D., which is more than 100 years apart. Therefore, some people think that the Nanzhao iron pillar is not the Tang standard iron pillar. In 872 A.D., Nanzhao was indeed a local regime of the Tang Dynasty, so some people think that the iron pillar of Nanzhao was the "iron pillar of the Tang Dynasty".

However, Zhang Zhao believes that the iron pillar is a sacrificial pillar, which contains the tree worship of the Yi people.

"The custom of the Yi people is that after the dead are buried, the eldest filial son will take home a small pine tree and carve it into a figure about 5 inches long. After worshiping for three generations, Xiaomu people were sent to their ancestral trees. There is a ancestral tree on every ancestral grave of Yi people. In their opinion, the ancestral tree is bigger than the old one. There are ancestral trees before the old one. Moreover, in every village of the Yi people in Midu, there is a place to worship the iron pillars of Nanzhao. The local people are called pilinge, which means Dayakou. On the 15th of the first month of each year, each village selects representatives to pay homage to the ancestors of the iron pillars in person. The rest of the old people, women, children and the whole village go to pilinge to worship the iron pillars. "Trees and pillars are both wood. Moreover, pillars were originally used to commemorate the golden winged bird. The pillars came out of the trees, so people changed from sacrificing trees to sacrificing pillars." The reason why Zhang Zhao believed that the iron pillar was a sacrificial pillar also originated from the top of the iron pillar

Chinese PinYin : Nan Zhao Tie Zhu