Dragon light tower

Dragon light tower

Located in Wuxi's Xihui Park, Longguang pagoda was built in the second year of Wanli (1574) of Ming Dynasty. It is a symbol of the prosperity of Wuxi's ancient imperial examination. The pagoda is a seven story octagonal pavilion type brick pagoda, with the walls of each floor from bottom to top. The height of the pagoda is 31.29 meters. It was the highest building in Wuxi before 1949.

In 1522, Gu Maozhang and his son rebuilt the stone pagoda. In July 1574, it was rebuilt into a seven story octagonal brick pagoda, which was inscribed "Longguang pagoda" by Shi guanmin, the magistrate of Changzhou, and inscribed by Wang Zhongshan.

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Protection level

In 1957, Longguang pagoda was declared as a municipal cultural relic protection unit by Wuxi Municipal People's government. In 1983, it was listed as a municipal cultural relic protection unit again.

Historical evolution

Since its construction, Longguang tower has been damaged and repaired many times. It was repaired four times in 1672, 1730, 1826 and 1836;

In 1865, due to the fire, the top of the Longguang tower was destroyed and became a remnant tower;

From 1921 to 1924, Zhou Tingbi (Shunqing) and Zhu Dachun successively donated money to build the pagoda;

In 1930, rongdesheng invested to change the main structure of the tower into reinforced concrete.

After the founding of new China, the Dragon light tower was rebuilt six times in 1955, 1957, 1965, 1976, 1993 and 2000;

The reconstruction started on the Double Ninth Festival in 2018 is the seventh time. This time, the main structure of the tower body will be maintained, and the demolition and repair will damage the construction.

Due to the long-term wind and rain, the wall painting layer of the tower's external wall has mostly fallen off. The renovation began on October 17, 2018. Mr. Rong Zhijian, a descendant of the Rong family in Wuxi and an industrialist from Wuxi living in Hong Kong, made a special trip back to his hometown to donate 4.95 million yuan for the renovation of the Longguang tower. During the construction period, when removing the old materials covered on the copper gourd at the top of the tower, the constructors found the exposed copper engraving of the copper gourd silk, which clearly engraved the investors of the copper gourd in 1924, including Zhu Dachun, Xue Nanming, Yang Ganqing, Cai Jianshan, Yang Hanxi, Yang Shiyu, sun Heqing, Gao Yingchuan, etc Flow and ordinary citizens. According to the investigation, more than 600 characters were found, most of which were names of more than 200 people. Among them, 118 names were directly cast on the copper gourd in Yangwen, and they were arranged in order.

On May 21, 2019, after more than nine months, the landmark of Wuxi, Longguang tower, which is located on the top of Xishan Mountain, was renovated. After the renovation, the height of the tower is 31.29 meters, with a total construction area of 244.77 square meters. The tower is equipped with spiral stairs and arched door openings on each floor. Visitors can enter the platform and have a panoramic view of the city. A grand completion ceremony was held in front of the Longguang tower.

social position

Speaking of Longguang tower, it is a landmark of Wuxi. Climbing the tower, you can overlook Xicheng and feel the city changing with each passing day. It is a symbol of Wuxi's prosperous literary style. It has repeatedly appeared in the works of scholars for more than 400 years and witnessed Wuxi's outstanding people.

Legend

Legend one

It is said that in the early years of Zhengde (1506) of the Ming Dynasty, there was a minister of rites named Gu Dingchen in Kunshan. He was accompanied by a local official from Wuxi to visit the beautiful scenery of Xihui. He was very talkative

After looking at the situation of the two mountains, those who study "Feng Shui" say that "Huishan is the dragon's body, Xishan is the dragon's head. The reason why Wuxi has not been the number one scholar for a long time since the Southern Song Dynasty (Jiang Chongzhen was the number one scholar of kuweike in 1223, the 16th year of the reign of emperor ningzong of the Song Dynasty), is that there is no horn on the dragon's head." The minister believed what he said at that time, so he built a solid stone pagoda on Xishan.

Legend 2

In the 23rd year of Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty (1544), after the palace examination, Wu Qing in Wuxi was initially determined to be the number one scholar. However, when the golden hall was called, Emperor Jiajing heard that "Wu Qing" was similar to the "heartless" voice in the north, and he thought, "where is the" heartless number one scholar "in the world?" So he lowered Wu Qing to the third place and became Tanhua. So my hometown blamed it on the fact that the pagoda was solid, saying, "the Dragon horn is used to listen, but it must be empty." so the local government raised funds to build this seven story octagonal pavilion style brick Pagoda in the second year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1574), and named it "Longguang pagoda" by Shi guanmin, the then governor of Changzhou. Wang Wen (Zhong Shan), a famous calligrapher and painter of the Ming Dynasty, inscribed the name of the pagoda. The carved stone is embedded in the East exterior wall of the third floor of the pagoda. In the same year (the second year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty - 1574), sun Jigao was the number one scholar in senior high school, and Wuxi was full of talents.

Tourism characteristics

Since its construction, Longguang pagoda has gone through many vicissitudes, especially in the autumn of the fourth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty. Youwei went up the pagoda with lanterns to catch birds, which caused a fire. It is said that it burned for three days in a row, and the pagoda was seriously damaged. Although it was repaired several times, it failed to recover its original appearance. It was not until 1924 that the main structure of the tower was changed into reinforced concrete, and a copper brake weighing 1.5 tons and 2.85 meters high was specially cast on the top of the tower. The height of the tower was increased to 32.3 meters, making the ancient tower more stable and spectacular. Since 1952, the ancient pagoda has been repaired several times. Especially in 1992, in the overhaul, the cornices and railings were strengthened, the inclination of the tower was corrected, and the lightning protection device of the tower brake was measured. The lightning protection function of the tower was strengthened, and the wall color of the tower body was also adjusted, from the original apricot yellow to dark red, which made the image of the tower more upright, dignified and radiant.

Visitors climb on the ancient pagoda and look around the corridor. Wuxi has a panoramic view. The new canal is like a silver dragon, winding from north to South under the pagoda. The incessant flow of ships in the canal and the running vehicles on the bridge are intertwined and dazzled. Looking from afar, the ancient Liangxi river is like a jade chain, stretching to the vast Taihu Lake in a zigzag way. The square fish ponds, like bright mirrors, connect the two sides of Liangxi river for tens of miles. On the west side of Jiulong hill, there are ups and downs, such as green waves. On the crest of the wave, a TV tower directly points to the sky, echoing the ancient tower. Therefore, Longguang tower is worthy of being the best point to enjoy the Wuxi scenery. Every hot summer and festival night, the colored lights on the tower are all bright. From a distance, it looks like a Pearl Tower, hanging in the sky, adding infinite reverie.

Next to the Dragon light tower was the Dragon light temple. This is a temple built by inta. Later, some of them were turned into buildings, which made the ancient pagoda more dignified. In the hall of the building, there is a plaque of "Hu Shan Ying Shuang". Here we can appreciate the poetic meaning of PI Rixiu's poem in the late Tang Dynasty, that is, "Li Shan's residence should be half of the day, Xia Li's pines and wind should be enough to listen to".

Related attractions

Longguang tower in Baishuidai, Guangdong Province

It is the highest octagonal glazed tile imitation Pagoda in Guangdong Province. There are arc-shaped steps on the inner floor of Longguang tower. You can go out to the outer hall to visit the location on each upper floor. On the top floor of Longguang tower, you can have a panoramic view of the buildings, rivers, mountains and fields in Jiangmen City, presenting a beautiful picture of the hometown of overseas Chinese.

Address: Xihui Park, No.2 Huihe Road, Binhu District, Wuxi City

Longitude: 120.275005

Latitude: 31.57874

Tel: 0510-83333833

Ticket information: no ticket required. Xihui park ticket 10 yuan is included.

Chinese PinYin : Long Guang Ta