Star gathering tower

Star gathering tower

Located in Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, Juxing pagoda is a key cultural relic under provincial protection. It was first built in 1614 and rebuilt in 1754. The tower is 30 meters high and has 7 floors. It is octagonal in shape with serrated eaves. The body of the tower is retracted layer by layer from bottom to top. The bricks and stones at the base are all made of glutinous rice juice. The tower ladder is in the wall between the inner and outer bodies, circling from left to right. According to the terrain, wind direction and wind force, the whole tower is designed as a slightly north inclined tower. Although it has been eroded by more than 200 years of wind and rain, it still stands tall.

Geographical division

Located in Wugang mountain, Wanfang village, outside the east of Nancheng County, it is known as "Wugang jade pen". It is four kilometers away from the city. It is a key cultural relic under provincial protection.

historical origin

It was built in 1614, the 42nd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, and was named "Qiming". In 1662, it was renamed "Shuangjiang". In 1754, it was renamed "Juxing" after Yao Wenguang, the magistrate of Qianlong. The Juxing pagoda is handsome and straight. The surface of the pagoda is covered with a layer of light yellow plaster, which is elegant and exquisite. It complements Magu mountain, conggu mountain, Taiping Bridge and Wannian bridge, forming a natural picture.

Wugang mountain is located at the confluence of zhuojiang River and Lishui River, facing Magu mountain in the south of the county. Xu and Li rivers converge here to form Fu River, winding north around the west side of Wugang. The famous Ming Dynasty stone arch bridge, Wannian bridge, was built at the foot of the mountain across the Fuhe River. It is far away from another Ming Dynasty stone arch bridge, Taiping Bridge, which is ten li upstream and crosses the zhuojiang river. It is one of the "ten sceneries of the South City" with beautiful scenery, beautiful mountains, beautiful water, ancient pagodas and splendid bridges.

The gate of the star gathering tower faces south by West. There is a long blue slate embedded on the gate, which is engraved with the word "star gathering tower", powerful and powerful. The eaves of the pagoda are seven levels, octagonal in shape, and retracted layer by layer from bottom to top. The edge of the eaves is built in a zigzag shape, which is thick and dignified. At the top of the tower, Kuixing is built with bricks and tilts to the north. When the bright moon is in the sky and the stars are shining, overlooking the Wugang deep pool under the tower, you can see the shape of the tower and the stars in the pool, just like the stars holding the tower. The name of "star gathering tower" comes from this. (Note: the pool has disappeared due to the change of river course)

Architectural features

Juxing tower is a hollow cornice brick tower, with a height of 30 meters and an octagonal base. The outer diameter of the base is 25.6 meters and the inner diameter is 6.8 meters. The square bricks at the base are made of red stone glutinous rice juice. The tower ladder is in the wall between the inner and outer towers. The width of the ladder is 0.6 meters. The left ladder can go up to seven levels, and the right ladder can only go up to five levels. If two people go up from the left and right ladders at the same time, they will not collide. There are many ancient pagodas in our province, but the stone ladder like Juxing pagoda, which is ingenious in workmanship and twists and turns on both sides, is rare. The lower part of the tower is longer, and the upper part is slightly shorter. It is poured with green brick and glutinous rice, and is stacked flat. Each level of the tower has windows, and the whole tower is slightly inclined to the north. Although it has been eroded by more than 200 years of wind and rain, it still stands firm, and its momentum seems to be calling for collapse. Legend has it that when the tower was first built, someone saw Zhang Mo master (i.e. designer) build the tower in this way, worried that it would collapse. The master answered with a smile: "the bridge is ten thousand years old, and the tower is one thousand years old. The foot of the inclined tower is as steady as iron. The greater the north wind is, the straighter the tower is. Let the strong wind blow for one thousand years." Juxing tower is adjacent to Wuyi Mountains in the East, GANFU PLAIN and Xujiang river system in the north. The whole terrain is like a corridor, so it is windy in four seasons, and it is a windy mouth in our province. At that time, according to the terrain, wind direction and wind force, the builders could design the tower to tilt to the north, which was very scientific and showed the wisdom of the ancient working people in the art of architecture.

The rise and fall of the past dynasties

According to the annals of Nancheng County, Hu Mingzuo, the magistrate of Jianchang in Wanli, thinks that Wugang mountain is "the key of county and river", where Xu and Li rivers meet, and the potential is too strong. In order to control water and gather gas, revitalize Confucianism, and prosper the county's wealth and culture, a seven level pagoda was built on the top of Wugang mountain at Jiayin's age (the 42nd year of Wanli, ad 1614). The seventh level pagoda's chamber was filled with deities, and a statue of Kuixing was built. The pagoda was named "Qiming". At that time, the Ming Dynasty was about to end, and the national fortune was declining. Hu Mingzuo's name implied his hope for the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

In 1638, the top of the tower was destroyed by lightning.

In June of 1645, the second year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, another fire broke out. The floors and Kuixing Pavilion on the seventh floor were burned down, and then gradually collapsed.

In the first year of Kangxi (1662), the magistrate Gao Tianjue repaired the tower. In order to avoid the suspicion of "restarting Daming", he renamed the tower "Shuangjiang", which was the first time to repair the tower.

The second repair was in 1754. The magistrate Yao Wenguang went to Wugang mountain to inspect the custom. He saw that the pagoda was incomplete and decadent, and felt that it was "not good to be angry with heaven" because he saw that the pagoda was "blocked layer by layer, and the weeds were the same". So he presided over the renovation of the pagoda and restored the Kuixing Pavilion on the top floor. This time, the maintenance cost of the pagoda was "3102 taels of buckwheat" (about 450000 yuan according to the rice price at the end of 1991 compared with the rice price in the 12th year of Qianlong), and changed the name of the pagoda It is called "star gathering tower". During the next 240 years, there was no repair.

In December 1987, with the approval of the provincial people's government, Juxing tower was listed as a provincial cultural relic protection unit.

The tower wall is seriously weathered due to its disrepair. In order to save this precious cultural relic, Jiangxi Provincial Department of culture and Nancheng County People's government decided to reinforce and repair the tower in 1992, and the project was successfully completed in October 1993.

Tower tilt

Although the inclination of the tower body is related to the compression deformation of the foundation, there are many other factors

Construction reasons. According to Shen Kuo's MengXiBiTan, Yu Hao, a great craftsman of the Northern Song Dynasty, built a pagoda in Kaifeng. When the pagoda was built, it tilted to the north. Some people asked him why. Yu Hao said that the capital was open without mountains, and the north wind was strong in the air, so it tilted to the north and was not upright for a hundred years. The ancients believed that it was beneficial to tilt the tower slightly towards the prevailing wind direction, which could offset the wind force, and even hope to blow the tower upright under the long-term wind load. Judging from the existing ancient pagodas, almost all of them have different degrees of inclination, so there is a saying that there is no inclination without pagodas, and the inclination direction of these pagodas is basically opposite to the local perennial dominant wind direction

In Nancheng area, the dominant wind direction is northward all the year round, and Juxing also inclines northward, so it is reasonable to think that there is a certain degree of inclination when building the tower.

··

Address: Wugang mountain, Wanfang Village

Longitude: 116.67440600039

Latitude: 27.583846000305

Chinese PinYin : Ju Xing Ta