Longevity tower in the sky

Longevity tower in the sky

Wanshou tower in the sky is also known as tadou tower, also known as Qingluo tower.

Tianzhong Wanshou pagoda is located on tadou mountain, Fengting Town, Xianyou County, Putian City, Fujian Province. It is commonly known as tadou pagoda, also known as Qingluo pagoda. According to the visit and identification of relevant experts, it belongs to ayuwang pagoda, with the architectural style of Five Dynasties.

Introduction to scenic spots

Wanshou tower in the sky, also known as tadou tower, is also known as Qingluo tower. It is said that in ancient times, there was a snail spirit who had been practicing for thousands of years. He climbed up the Bank of the fengjiang River from Meizhou Bay and wanted to go to Fengting to do evil. He was suppressed by immortals by the river and became a snail peak with a snail tail facing the sky. The ancient tower was built on the snail tail, so it got its name.

Wanshou tower in the sky rises from a mountain in the distance. A tower is built on the top of the mountain. It can reach out to pick up stars, so it is also called pick up Star Tower. Founded at the end of the Five Dynasties, it sits in the north to the south. The tower is a solid stone structure, with a square shape and five stories. It is 7.4 meters high and 5.1 meters long. It is built on a mountain and runs straight into the sky.

The surface of Wanshou pagoda is almost covered with relief sculptures. Its unique shape and exquisite art can be called a unique one.

The first layer is placed on the Xumi seat of petal lotus, and each corner is carved with a statue of Li Shen, which is slightly squatted. The upper tower seat is supported by the head. The four sides of the tower body are carved with pictures of two dragons playing each other, with different shapes. Especially in the south, there is a relief picture in which the male and female dragons hook each other with their tails to make mating. At the same time, they turn around and look at each other with four eyes.

At the bottom of the second floor, there is a Xumi seat with eight feet. Only round drum shaped columns are placed at the four corners of the tower, and four folded flowers are carved on each side.

Each side of the third layer is chiseled into three arch shaped niches, in which a Buddha statue is carved, and three-dimensional figures in ancient warrior clothes are embossed at four corners.

Layout structure

The most peculiar is the fourth floor. There is a female Bodhisattva with a relief head in the middle of each side of the tower, wearing an ancient Indian crown, tassels on both sides, and earbells. The name of the female Bodhisattva is too fashionable to understand. At the four corners, the standing statues of kaluro with bird beaks and wings are carved as corner pillars. According to the Sanskrit transliteration of the kaluro system, that is, the golden winged bird, Buddhism refers to one of the eight parts of the Heavenly Dragon, which feeds on the dragon. It can be seen that the construction of this tower also means to suppress the evil dragon on the sea by means of Buddhist magic.

Fengting is located on the seashore with low altitude. It is often affected by the sea water. It is likely that the ancients wanted to suppress the evil dragon on the sea by means of Buddhist magic power. Therefore, at the top of the tower, a whip shaped stone column is erected, and fan-shaped stone carvings are embedded on the four sides to form the wheel top of banana leaf complex. Looking up from afar, it looks like a Buddha hat, which is a typical Ayu tower in India.

According to historical records, Wanshou Pagoda in Tianzhong was founded in the Five Dynasties and has a history of 1000 years. In 1059 A.D., the fourth year of Jiayou reign of Song Dynasty, Cai Xiang, a scholar of Duanming palace of Song Dynasty, renovated it. He also left a famous poem: "who planted the green pine to the west of the tower, the height of the tower and the height of the pine are not the same. When the people are not Taoist, the pine is small, and in the future the pine is high and the tower is low." It is the largest Ashoka style solid stone pagoda in China. The Ashoka tower is a special form of tower.

cultural heritage

Wanshou tower in Fengting Tianzhong was built in the Five Dynasties. With its unique shape and rich cultural connotation, it has become a special cultural heritage of the tower in China and has been listed as a national cultural relic.

The Wanshou tower in Fengting was built because it has a combination of Buddhist culture, Chinese Confucian culture of respecting monarch and filial piety, and Chinese traditional culture of suppressing evil spirits and disasters. At the same time, Wanshou tower towering on the top of Luofeng, has become a symbol of the Maple Pavilion in maritime navigation. According to research, China's maritime "Silk Road" originated from Quanzhou port, and there is also the maritime culture contained in Fengting's "Taiping port". It has played an immeasurable role in the economic and cultural exchanges between China and other countries at home and abroad.

Protection unit

Wanshou tower in Tianzhong was announced as a cultural relic protection unit in Fujian Province in October 1985.

On June 25, 2001, as an ancient building of Song Dynasty, Wanshou tower in Tianzhong was approved by the State Council to be listed in the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Address: on tadou mountain, Fengting Town, Xianyou County, Putian City

Longitude: 118.867408

Latitude: 25.250546

Chinese PinYin : Tian Zhong Wan Shou Ta