Hengyang Jilong Tower, one of the three towers that locks the city’s feng shui, is in jeopardy after 300 years.
There are a few places I love to visit most during city tours: museums, vegetable markets, bazaars, and various cultural monuments. They are an important component of the city and the lifeblood of the city.
When talking about the lifeblood of a city, we can’t help but think of a city in Hunan that can be called one of the cities with the best Feng Shui in China: Hengyang.
"Three water mouths lock the river" refers to Hengyang. In order to lock Feng Shui, Hengyang has three towers to lock the acupoints. These three towers are Laiyan Pagoda, Zhuhui Pagoda and Jielong Pagoda. The three acupoints are "Xiangjiang River, Laishui River and Zhishui River".
Although Hengyang is not a tourist city, when entering here, Feng Shui becomes one of the objects of curiosity for tourists. Therefore, I have an exploratory mentality towards those three magical pagodas.
Feng Shui is a very ancient metaphysics in Chinese civilization. It was perfected as early as the Warring States Period. Feng Shui, seemingly mysterious, is actually closely related to our lives. The location of cities, houses, and mausoleums, including the placement of living rooms at home, are all related to Feng Shui.
When it comes to urban feng shui, I am in awe of the wisdom of the ancients.
Laiyan Pagoda is located in Shigu District, Hengyang. It is one of the three pagodas in Yancheng and a scenic spot in Hengzhou. It was built in the Ming Dynasty and is located in the northwest of the intersection of the Xiangjiang River, Laishui River and Zhishui River.
Zhuhui Pagoda is located at the mouth of Leihe River on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, opposite Laiyan Pagoda. It is located on Baiting Mountain on the east bank of the river and is one of the three pagodas in Yancheng.
The location of this tower is also very peculiar. It neither stands on the riverside like the Laiyan Tower, nor on the mountain like the Zhuhui Tower. Instead, it is hidden in a busy residential building. It is both prominent and secretive. Many locals in Hengyang said they did not know where it was, and some claimed they had never heard of it.
Although the surrounding area was blocked due to construction, aerial photography revealed that the tower was in danger.
Jielong Pagoda, also known as Book Burning Pagoda, is located opposite Yanfeng Park in Yanfeng District. It was built during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty and was initiated by Zhou Xie, the Prime Minister of Hengyang County. It has a history of more than 300 years. The scale of construction at that time included Solitaire Tower, Incinerator and Ancestral Temple.
However, during the Anti-Japanese Defense War in Hengyang, both the Jielong Tower and the ancestral temple were destroyed, and only the incinerator remained. It was the place where scholars burned calligraphy paper in the past, but for some reason people called it "Jielong Tower".
What many people don’t know is that there is another name for this tower: “Bone Tower”.
In the thirty-fifth year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Xie, the county magistrate, expanded the city wall and dug out a large number of bones on the mountain. In order to comfort the souls of the dead, he ordered people to dig a huge cave on the east mountain, bury the bones in it, and put them on top. A masonry tower was built. Someone proposed to name the tower "Bone Bone Tower", but this name was weird and terrifying and did not get the support of the county magistrate Zhou Xie. At that time, the person who invited the inscription on the forehead of the pagoda saw that the name of the pagoda had not yet been decided, so he just wrote the word "ta" and left.
There was once a small nunnery called "White Bone Nunnery" on the ground not far from the tower, but it soon collapsed.
Whether it is the "Book Burning Tower" or the "Bone Tower", this incinerator has become a tower in people's hearts. Although it is mistakenly called the "Solitaire Tower", few people will Remember it was originally a furnace.
The furnace has 5 floors. There are two doors in the north and south on the bottom floor. The furnace body is made of ashlar stone and gradually tapers from bottom to top. It is placed on the Xumizuo platform about 1 meter high, with a total height of 15 meters. Ruta is the oldest and largest Xizi Pagoda in Hengyang.
Although it is said to be the "biggest", compared to the popularity of the Wild Goose Pagoda and its status in the hearts of Hengyang people, the Solitaire Pagoda in front of us is relatively unknown. Although it is located between dense residential buildings and busy streets, it looks like a forgotten, lonely old man who has gone through many vicissitudes of life. There are many cracks in the body. If it were not for the masonry structure, it may have disappeared.
However, as one of the three key points of the pagoda, it is a Feng Shui pagoda guarding Yancheng. Such an environment makes people sigh.