Chaoyang South Tower

Built in Liao Dynasty, it is a square hollow brick tower with 13 levels of dense eaves, about 45 meters high and facing south. It is composed of tower base, xumizuo, tower body, tower eaves and tower brake.

Chaoyang South Tower

Chaoyang South Tower is located at the south end of Murong Street (formerly Shuangta Street) in Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. It is a relic building of Xingzhong Fucheng in Liao Dynasty. Because the original three ancient pagodas in the city stand in opposition, according to their location, they are commonly known as South Tower, North Tower (Chaoyang North Tower) and East Tower (Chaoyang East Tower, which has collapsed). The South pagoda is a thirteen level brick Pagoda with dense eaves. It is 42.6 meters high and consists of rammed earth base, brick pedestal, xumizuo, pagoda body, pagoda eaves and brake top.

In October 2019, Chaoyang South Tower was selected as the eighth batch of national key cultural relics protection units, ranking No. 261 and No. 64 of ancient buildings (No. 8-0261-3-064)

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Introduction to South Tower

Chaoyang South Tower is located at the south end of Murong street, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. Because of the original three ancient pagodas in the city, according to their location, they are commonly known as the East Tower, the south tower and the North Tower.

Chaoyang South pagoda is a dense eaves brick pagoda of Liao Dynasty. It is 42.6 meters high and consists of rammed earth base, brick pedestal, xumizuo, pagoda body, pagoda eaves and brake top.

The base of the tower is square, plain and made of bricks. Xumizuo has a waist for two weeks, and each side of the waist has five pot doors, which are carved with Yunlong, etc. The upper part of the girdle is a brick blockhouse, supporting the body of the tower. In the middle of the south side of the tower, there is a ticket gate. In the other three sides, there is a false gate. On both sides of the gate, there are brick sculptures of cirrus clouds, and on the top of the gate, there is a relief canopy. On both sides of the canopy, there is a stone inscription on the pagoda, engraved with the names of the eight pagodas. There are many square holes on both sides of the tower door, which may be inlaid with floating statues. It is speculated that there should be relief sculptures on the body of the tower, which seems to have been stopped before it was finished.

Each corner of the tower has a brick carved circular leaning column, the top supports a half arch, and seven pieces are laid between the two. Above the half arch is the brick tower eaves, which are retracted layer by layer. The eaves are decorated with wind. The original Fengduo and Tasha have long gone. In 1999, Chaoyang South Tower was restored to its original appearance after maintenance.

In 2019, Chaoyang South Tower was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit (No. 261 of the eighth batch).

Dingguang relic

In October 2004, when the construction workers of Chaoyang construction group construction company carried out the underground pipe network construction in the "antique street" (Murong Street) near the South Tower of Chaoyang City, they accidentally found a Liao Dynasty relic, which was identified as the "stone Palace" where the Buddha relic was buried. The "stone Palace" is a brick and stone mixed tomb structure. The exterior is wrapped with bricks, and the interior is built into a box with regular stone slabs. The backfill in the palace is tamped and buried, and inside there is a stone box and "Buddha relic Memorial" stele and other precious cultural relics. The stone letter is 70 cm long and 40 cm wide, with clear peony patterns inside and outside the four walls. It is painted with the image of "flying sky" in myth and legend and the peony with twigs. It is very rare to see such exquisite stone letters.

In the painted relic stone letters, rare treasures such as glass relic bottles, gilt gold and silver coffins, silver bowls, silver spoons, gilt gold and silver bodhi trees, gilt gold statues of monks and white porcelain bowls of relief Buddha statues were found. These are Buddhist relics. After careful cleaning by archaeologists, more than ten pieces of dingguang Buddha relics were found. The stele of "Buddha relic Memorial" unearthed from the stone palace clearly records that "the great Khitan state occupies the first place in Bazhou, and the stone palace is set under the Shangxing Pagoda Temple to collect one Buddha relic and eighteen Buddha relic". The time is 984 A.D., the second year of Liao Dynasty. Tonghe is the year name of yelulungxu. This is the only Ding Guang Buddha relic in the world with clear written records, which is the first in the world. Ding Guang Buddha, Sanskrit paraphrase "burning lamp Buddha" or "ran lamp Buddha". "On great wisdom" says: "when he was born, everything around him was like a lamp, so he was named Prince dengdeng. As a Buddha, he was also named dengdeng.".

Pagoda swallow

When summer comes, groups of golden swallows fly around the pagoda. The setting sun and the tall buildings of the pagoda complement each other, which is quite interesting. It often attracts countless visitors to stop and watch. Therefore, "pagoda golden swallows" has long been one of the eight beautiful sceneries in Chaoyang.

The poets of Qing Dynasty once wrote poems to praise:

The Three Pagodas of Longcheng are thick with golden swallows,

The Phoenix rises in the morning for thousands of autumn.

The smoke locks soar to the sky, and the sound is ancient,

The white wolf lies in the boat.

If you look around the tower in the photo carefully, you can see some black spots around the tower. These black spots around the tower are the swallows flying around the tower. The "pagoda Golden Swallow" in the eight scenes of Chaoyang is worthy of its name. The north tower behind Chaoyang South Tower and the swallows around the north tower are much less than the south tower, which is puzzling.

The mystery of life experience

Chaoyang South Tower is located in the old urban area of Chaoyang City. It echoes with the North Tower and becomes the symbol of Chaoyang City. However, due to years of disrepair, the body of the south tower has been damaged in many places, and the top of the tower has been denuded. In particular, a rainstorm in the summer of 1998 cut off the second layer of the Tower South of the tower by more than 2 meters, and the millennium old tower swayed in the wind and rain. Dong Gao, director of Chaoyang North Tower cultural relics management office, said: "if it is not protected, the south tower will face the danger of collapse, and the restoration of the south tower is imminent."

At the end of 1999, the restoration of the ancient pagoda was officially put on the agenda. According to historical records, the south tower was built in the Liao Dynasty, but the specific construction time has always been a mystery to be solved. When the staff climbed up to the top of the ancient pagoda to clean up, they unexpectedly found a brick inscribed on it. On the brick, it was clearly engraved with the date when the South pagoda was built: in the second year of liaodakang. Director Dong explained that according to the method of chronology, the second year of Liao Dakang is 1076, that is to say, the exact age of Nanta is 925.

On the top of the tower, at the base of the Chagan tower, cultural relic experts were surprised to find such precious cultural relics as green glass gourds and copper coins made in the Liao Dynasty. What's more exciting for cultural relics experts is that they found a lot of copper coins and Buddhist scriptures in the chamber of the pagoda, as well as a pair of hemp shoes worn by ancient people during construction. Director Dong said that these valuable cultural relics can clearly reflect the life experience of the pagoda and are rare historical materials for the study of Liao Dynasty culture.

Map coordinates

Chaoyang South Tower is located in the South Tower Square, Shuangta District, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province.

Address: Shuangta street, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province

Longitude: 120.45092582703

Latitude: 41.573012892031

Chinese PinYin : Chao Yang Nan Ta