History of Dongshan Pagoda

The Dongshan Pagoda is the only existing terrestrial cultural relic with a thousand-year history in Jingmen, Hubei. It was built in the 13th year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty (593 AD). It is 212 years older than "Jingmen". . The pagoda is 33.3 meters high, with a base circumference of 30.6 meters. It has seven floors and eight corners, with windows on every side and a pointed top. The tower base has a circumference of 31.2 meters and a height of 0.76 meters. There is a stone Xumizuo on the base, and a King Kong is carved on each of the eight corners of the Xumizuo. There are four characters "Changlin Toujiao" carved in stone on the lintel of the ground floor. There are spiral bluestone steps from the bottom to the top of the tower (260 meters above sea level). There are small rooms on each floor for overlooking. Dozens of steles in the tower have recorded the maintenance status of the tower. The southern corner of the tower was blown up in 1949 and repaired in 1954. It is one of the well-preserved ancient pagodas in Hubei Province. In 1961, it was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Hubei Province. The lintel of the ancient pagoda is inlaid with the four characters "Changlin Toujiao", which means that it was the Toujiao of Changlin County at that time. "When the Dongbao Pagoda was erected, Changlin Toujiao grew up." Because the name "Jingmen" did not exist at that time, and Changlin County was not located in the current old city. Its construction created prerequisites for the birth and construction of "Jingmen". Its founder was the eminent monk Zhiyi of the Sui Dynasty. Zhiyi was born in Huarong, Jingzhou. His original name was Chen De'an. He became a monk at the age of 18. In the 11th year of Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty (AD 591), King Yang Guang of the Jin Dynasty presented him with "Wise Man" as a gift and was revered as "Master Wise Man". Zhiyi built 36 monasteries in his lifetime, taught 14,000 monks, taught 36 disciples, and wrote more than 140 volumes of books. In the twelfth year of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty (AD 592), Zhiyi invited him to Jingxiang. The following year, he returned to his hometown of Jingzhou and founded the Yuquan Temple in Dangyang. At the same time, he built the Dongshan Pagoda in Jingmen and the Public Security Bureau of the present city (Fenghuangtai) City. In the Bureau area, Queen Wenwen returned to Dangyang Province to visit the Cultivation Palace. The historical administrative center of Jingmen has experienced a gradual evolution process from southeast to northwest: Quanguo-Quanxian-Dangyang-Bianxian-Wuning-Changning-Changlin-Jingmen. This evolution was integrated from the 12th century BC to the Northern Song Dynasty. In the third year of Jianlong's reign (AD 962), Changlin County was moved to Mengshandong (today's urban area). It took more than 2,000 years before it was located in today's old city. This was due to the fact that Zhiyi built the Dongshan Pagoda as the practice palace for Queen Wenxu. The palace later became the seat of successive county government offices, and also laid the foundation for the location of Jingmen's administrative center at the eastern foot of Mengshan Mountain (today's Xiangshan Mountain). Of course, Zhiyi chose Dongbaoshan to build a pagoda and build a palace for Queen Wenxu. The main factor was the geographical geomantic omen at the eastern foot of Mengshan Mountain. Perhaps he did not expect that what he did would lay the foundation for the later construction of the city of Jingmen.