East Temple Tower

East Temple Tower

Dongsi pagoda, located in Shulin street of Kunming City, is an ancient pagoda in the period of Nanzhao kingdom. The total height of Dongsi tower is 40.57 meters. Dongsi tower is one of the earliest ancient towers in Kunming. There are four birds made of copper skin at the four corners of the tower top, commonly known as golden rooster, so it is also known as "Golden Rooster tower".

Dongsi pagoda is now on Shulin street, next to Yunnan People's publishing house. Its shape is similar to the main tower of the Three Pagodas in Dali. It is slightly higher than the West Temple Tower. The two towers, one in the West and one in the East, are far away from each other. Against the backdrop of modern architecture, they are even more simple and vigorous. The two towers have a history of more than 1100 years.

Historical origin

Stepping into the boundary of Kunming, the high-rise buildings in the distance are the East Temple Tower and the West Temple Tower. If you come at night, all the niche lights of the two towers will be on fire, which is as bright as a river of stars.

The East pagoda is located in the present Shulin street, and the West pagoda is located in the present Dongsi street. The two pagodas are originally temples, both of which were built in the Nanzhao period. At that time, there was Changle temple in the city. The pagoda in the temple is the East pagoda, also known as Changle pagoda. On the other hand, there is Huiguang temple. The pagoda in the temple is called the West pagoda, also known as Huiguang pagoda. Today, all the temples are abandoned, but the pagoda still exists.

Layout structure

Dongsi pagoda is a square hollow brick Pagoda with dense eaves. It is 40.57 meters high and 13 levels high. There is a pagoda gate on the south side of the ground floor and an underground palace with a depth of 1.5 meters. It was originally built with a wooden Buddha, but now it is lost. There are benches on all sides of the 2-12 floors, and a stone Buddha is built in the benches, all donated by good men and women. 10 layers of flat bricks are used for each layer, and the second layer is used for canine angle. At the top of the tower, there are four bronze "chaluros", each of which is 2.03 meters high. In the beak of "chaluro" in the southwest and northeast corners, there are one tubular flute. Whenever the southwest wind blows, "chaluro" and "Wuwu" are widely heard, while the other two are restless, indicating that they are male. The flute, rusted by the wind and dew, has long been silent. "Kaluro" is commonly known as Golden Rooster or golden winged bird. According to the Buddhist scriptures, it spreads its wings to cover 30000 Li. Only one foot is allowed in the whole "floating dike" (the world). It likes to eat dragons and is the God of flood control. In the past, there were Panlong River, Jinzhi River, Yinzhi River, Haiyuan River, Baoxiang River and Maliao river running through Kunming. Due to the disrepair of water conservancy, frequent floods and many people's harm, this object was specially designed to suppress water monsters. "Gallow" is the golden rooster, and this tower is also called the Golden Rooster tower. The Tasha is made of copper, which is composed of Xianglun, umbrella cover, Yuanguang and munizhu, and runs through the central column. The eighth floor is the widest, and the upper five floors receive sharp scores. The whole tower is shaped like a bow. It is extremely tensile and smooth.

The West Temple Pagoda and the East Temple Pagoda have the same shape system, but the difference is only in the West Temple Pagoda without underground palace.

Historical evolution

East Temple Tower is located in Changle temple, Shulin street, Kunming City, also known as Changle temple tower.

According to Nanzhao unofficial history, the East Temple Tower was built in the eighth year of Xuanzong's reign (854) in 1898. It was 150 feet high and the West Temple Tower was 80 feet high. From 829, the third year of dazhonghe to 859, the 13th year of Dazhong. "Jingtai Yunnan tujing" also said: Shuangbai tower, in the south of the city In contrast, it was made by the top of the mound. Yuchi Gongtao is a famous craftsman in Nanzhao, and cuoding is the envoy of nongdong in Nanzhao. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, Changle temple and Huiguang temple have been annihilated. Only the two pagodas still exist.

Dongsi pagoda, square in plan, 13 story brick Pagoda with dense eaves. In 1833, a great earthquake occurred in Kunming and the tower was destroyed. Restoration began in 1883.

Reconstruction and expansion

According to the records of rebuilding Dongsi pagoda and Sanfang stele, when the Dongsi pagoda was rebuilt, because the original pagoda foundation was low-lying, it was afraid that the soil was thin and not strong, so it moved to the East for hundreds of steps, and rebuilt according to the style of Xisi pagoda. After four years, it was completed in 1887.

When the tower was rebuilt, there were four bronze chickens standing at the four corners, so it was commonly known as the Golden Chicken tower. It is said that when the wind blows, the four golden roosters will give out a pleasant cry, which makes the pagoda more mysterious and shows the craftsmanship.

Architectural features

The Dongsi tower is 40.57 meters high, with a square base and a side length of 12 meters. The tower is a hollow brick tower with square rows and dense eaves, with a total of 13 levels. There is a gate on the south side of the bottom floor of the pagoda. From the second floor, there are ticket holes on all sides of the eaves. Each hole has a small niche with a stone Buddha statue inside. At the top of the tower, there are two golden winged birds, each of which is about 2 meters high.

Folklore

It is said that the four golden chickens will crow in winter and spring when the wind is strong. They can be heard from far and near.

In August 1979, the top of the tower was blown down by a storm. When the top of the tower was repaired, the "secret" of chicken crowing was discovered. It turns out that the golden rooster is made of copper. There is a copper tube with holes at both ends in the corner of the mouth. There are metal reeds in the tube. The head, neck and abdomen of the chicken are all empty. Whenever the strong wind blows, the copper tube in the chicken's mouth swings through the air in the abdominal cavity and makes a sound like a crow. Later, as time went on, the copper pipe was filled with sand and the reed gradually rusted, so the Golden Rooster would never crow again. It is said in the Buddhist Sutra "a tale of exploring the mysteries" that the golden winged bird can subdue the dragon. Yunnan is mountainous, with mountain torrents breaking out and flooding. Therefore, golden winged birds are placed on the top of ancient pagodas in Yunnan to prevent flooding. The story of "peacock gall" under the East Temple Tower has been handed down for a long time. It is said that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the red scarf uprising army invaded Kunming. King Liang fled to Chuxiong and asked Duan Gong, the general manager of Dali, for help. Duan Gong sent troops to repel the rebel army and made king Liang recover Kunming. The king of Liang promised the princess a Xi to Duan Gong as his wife, and they fell in love with each other.

Shortly after, Duan Gong wanted to return to the palace of King Liang in Kunming. The king Liang was bewitched by the treacherous officials. He suspected that Duan Gong wanted to take over Kunming. He ordered ah Kuan to poison Duan Gong with peacock gall. Ah Kuan and his wife were deeply in love and couldn't bear to do it. The king of Liang had another plan. He invited Duan Gong to do Buddhist work in Changle temple and sent someone to kill him when his horse was startled. After hearing the news, he was devastated and soon died of grief and indignation.

Ancient pagoda style

In the bustling streets, the East Temple Tower is like an old man who has gone through many vicissitudes. He looks at the changeable world with his eyes full of worries. Changle temple, which was first built in the early years of Zhenyuan in Tang Dynasty and was called "East Temple" at that time, no longer exists. Only this pagoda has been repaired several times after countless wars and several earthquakes, and finally remains, becoming one of the oldest relics of Kunming.

From a distance, the 13 storey blue pagoda stands tall in the sun, like a sword, pointing straight to the sky. From the second floor, each layer of the tower has a Buddha niche, in which there are sand carved Buddha statues. Looking at those Buddha statues with drooping eyelids and clasping hands, a strong religious atmosphere immediately makes people feel awed. At the top of the pagoda, there are copper balls and copper brakes as decorations, and four bronze golden chickens standing in the four corners of the pagoda, flying in the air, as if to fly away in the wind. It is said that there is a whistle in the mouth of the golden rooster. Whenever the southwest wind blows, it will make a "woo" sound, just like the cock crowing. In the enclosure of a small and exquisite courtyard, the East Temple Tower adds a bit of vigorous and steep style. Around the grass and flower beds in the garden, along the stone steps on the base of the pagoda, countless memories of the past come to us. Stretch out trembling fingers and gently brush the Blue Tower. It seems that you can still touch the cooled historical clouds from the cool green bricks. In those ancient times, this pagoda and the West pagoda, which is located in the East Temple Street, stand side by side. It is not only a Buddhist pagoda, but also a beacon for night walkers to guide the way. Under the deep night sky on the plateau, the tower is brightly lit, illuminating the eyes of countless people.

As a great landscape of Kunming in the old days, Li Jing, a man of the Yuan Dynasty, once wrote a poem that "the sky is a lonely city, the smoke is dark outside, and the two towers between the clouds are bright at the edge of the sun.". With the rapid rise of those high-rise buildings, the East Temple Tower is obviously obscured by them. However, it is deep, just like a white haired patron saint, silently recording the history of Kunming and blessing its future.

Opening to the outside world

The construction of tea garden was started in November 1997 and completed in May 1998 with an investment of 3.33 million yuan. Dongsita tea garden covers an area of 4685 square meters, which is divided into two parts: the part open to the public along Shulin street in the West covers an area of 1692 square meters, and the foreign affairs activity area of municipal Party committee in the East covers an area of 2999 square meters. The pavilions, corridors and landscape walls between the eastern and western parts of the tea garden form an interconnected and relatively independent green space.

The pavilion and Gallery of tea garden is located in the east of the East Temple Tower. It adopts the traditional garden architectural form, with chestnut beams and columns, gray glazed tile, corner roof and white wall. The gallery wall is inlaid with beautiful frames and painted with "eight scenes of Kunming". Facing Shulin street in the west of the East Temple Tower is a scenery wall with scenery windows. The wind and fire bricks at the top of the wall are picked out and covered with gray glazed tiles. The west landscape wall and the East pavilions and corridors form a rectangular courtyard, and the park is paved with red sandstone road. The low and simple courtyard buildings set off the ancient pagoda, and the East Temple Pagoda is even more majestic and spectacular. On the west side of the tea garden is the foreign affairs activity area of the municipal Party committee. The main scenery is the two-story stone wall red tile villa style building built in the Republic of China. The stone road is circuitous in the garden. A group of landscape stones are set up and inscribed with the inscription of Yang Jianqiang, Secretary of the municipal Party committee. The tea garden covers an area of 1500 square meters with Camellia as the main plant configuration. There are 81 Camellia from Yunnan and 19 Camellia from East China, with camellia, Rhododendron, Phyllanthus, Trollius, Sophora japonica, Magnolia grandiflora and other flowers and trees. This is a place for the residents of Shulin street to have leisure and fitness

Chinese PinYin : Dong Si Ta