In the Yangtze River outside Xiaodongmen, Ezhou City , there is a huge reef, winding like a dragon, called "Longpanji". There is a building on Longpanji called Guanyin Pavilion, which has a history of more than 700 years.
Recently, CNN’s short video platform for young users reported on Guanyin Pavilion. The short video of more than one minute quickly became popular in the United States. Some netizens commented that they wanted to "see the inside of the building." A reporter from Chutian Metropolis Daily learned that as early as 2017, the British media reported on Ezhou Guanyin Pavilion, which also attracted the attention of countless foreign netizens.
Chinese ancient buildings have become famous abroad
"I really want to go to China to see the Guanyin Pavilion, even if I can only look across the river." Recently, an ancient building in Ezhou, Hubei has become a global hit, and the short video platform of the American Cable News Network (CNN) The Ezhou Guanyin Pavilion photographed by Great Big Story (GBS) attracted the attention of netizens from all over the world. This video, which lasts just over a minute, received 160,000 views and more than 4,000 "likes" soon after it was released on overseas social media. Many overseas netizens said in the video comment area that the picture is beautiful, but they haven't seen enough. Many people want to know more about the story of this ancient building that "even floods cannot wash away": "It would be nice to have more information."
In fact, Guanyin Pavilion had already become famous as early as the Qing Dynasty. The poet Jiang Dan of the Qing Dynasty wrote this in his poem "Dragon Pan Crossing at Dawn": "The cliffs rise from the center of the river, and the water surface floats on the terraces. How can it be that the dragon has been lying down for a long time, but the stones have remained. Where the clouds are shadowed by the light sail, the sound of rumblings is heard at night as we cross the river. . Asking where it is, there is a pillar in the middle of the river. "Guanyin Pavilion, with its reputation as the "No. 1 Pavilion in the Yangtze River", stands alone in the middle of the river, and there is a pillar in the middle of the river. Over the years, countless people have been attracted to the pavilion, admiring the scenery and expressing their feelings, holding the moon in the water, listening to the river breeze and looking at the river water, forgetting the world, and washing their ears and purifying their hearts. Longpan Xiaodu is just like a city business card, showing the profound humanistic connotation of Ezhou.
"I have lived in Ezhou for 40 years and have never been there once." Ms. Shao, a citizen of Ezhou, said regretfully in an interview with a reporter. In the 1980s, citizens could take a boat to visit the Guanyin Pavilion, but because she was young at the time, she did not. Can visit. After the Guanyin Pavilion became a national key cultural relic protection unit, the local government closed the landing for citizens to visit in order to ensure that the Guanyin Pavilion was not damaged.
Foreign media pursue "Strengthening Pavilion"
Why does an ancient building attract so much attention from foreign netizens? This building is full of magic and mystery. It has experienced countless floods in its 700-year history and still stands in the Yangtze River without falling. It reflects the exquisite skills and wisdom of ancient Chinese people in architecture.
On August 9, 2017, the British " Daily Mail " website reported that "In the latest floods that occurred in the past few weeks, the water level rose to a height of about 35 feet (about 10.67 meters) in southern China. China and central China are in the rainy season, and floods continue to hit these areas, but this 700-year-old building is still standing.
A reporter from Chutian Metropolis Daily saw the view of Guanyin Pavilion from the pictures reported by the Daily Mail. The scenic platform and foundation were submerged in the water, and the ancient building looked like it was floating on the water. But the building was still intact, and it seemed as if nothing had happened inside. According to reports, this pavilion, which has experienced countless floods, is still intact. After being flooded recently, it was known as the "strong pavilion".
Thanks to the ancient Ezhou craftsmen's wonderful use of fluid mechanics and the unique style of plastic art, the curved stone wall on the lower half of the Guanyin Pavilion is both slow and slow. The water flow flows smoothly, no matter how the river slaps and roars, it is always stable.
Guanyin Pavilion rises and falls with the water?
Looking from a distance from the shore, Longpanji looks like a divine turtle lying in the water. , there is a majestic pavilion on the high head. According to Wang Yu, the guide of Ezhou Museum, there is a folk proverb that "Guanyin Pavilion rises with the water", no matter how high the water rises, because The Guanyin Pavilion is carried by the god Ao, which can rise and fall with the water. The river cannot flood the Guanyin Pavilion.
The huge reef carrying the Guanyin Pavilion is winding like a dragon and is called "Longpanji".In 221 AD, Sun Quan, King of Wu of the Three Kingdoms, moved the capital to E County, taking the meaning of "prosperous with force" and changed E County to Wuchang (from the Three Kingdoms to the early years of the Republic of China, E County has been called Wuchang for more than 1,600 years. After the Revolution of 1911, Wuchang The name was given to Jiang Xia). On the eve of Sun Quan proclaiming himself emperor in Wuchang, he heard that a yellow dragon pan was lying on a huge rock in the river. It stayed here for several days before leaving, so he named the reef "Long Panji".
Wang Yu introduced that the secret of Guanyin Pavilion is that "it rises and falls with the water". The Guanyin Pavilion is like a ship's side, which not only slows down the water but also releases it. The pavilion and the rock are cleverly integrated into one, which is ingenious and ingenious, making it even more majestic and majestic. It shows the wonderful imagination and creativity of ancient craftsmen. The vast Yangtze River is turbulent, but Guanyin Pavilion stands quietly on the giant reef, sitting and watching the passage of time, rising and falling with the change of water level. It is like a battleship cutting through the waves on the vast Yangtze River.
Reporter visit: Revealing the mystery of Guanyin Pavilion
Chutian Metropolis Daily reporter Liang Chuansong and correspondent He Jingxing
"Longpanji Temple is located on Longpanji. It was formerly known as Guanyin Pavilion and has a circumference of more than 70 feet. When it appears in winter and disappears in summer, there used to be a dragon. It is here that the sun will accumulate. It rises in the middle of the river, and it is not even a mile away from the bank. The rocks are winding like a dragon. This is the description of Guanyin Pavilion in the "Wuchang County Chronicles" written by Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty.
Guanyin Pavilion was built in the Song Dynasty and has a history of more than 700 years. It is also the only temple on the Yangtze River, so it is called the No. 1 Pavilion on the Yangtze River. For hundreds of years, Guanyin Pavilion has gone through vicissitudes of life and has been repeatedly destroyed and repaired. In the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1341), the construction began to take shape under the supervision of Qi Tieshan (a Mongolian ethnic group) in Daluga, Wuchang County. Later, it was repaired many times by local officials and people in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Yesterday, reporters boarded the Guanyin Pavilion and unveiled the mystery of the first pavilion on the Yangtze River.
The ancient Yangtze River Zhongjian loft was suspected to be the navigation
"The foundation and main building are still the original appearance when it was expanded." On the 25th, the reporter boarded the Guanyin Pavilion together with Yan Yong, director of the Ezhou Museum Cultural Relics Direct Management Office, and others. Yan Yong introduced that according to historical records, as early as the Song Dynasty, there were temples built in Longpanji in the Ezhou section of the Yangtze River. However, due to frequent floods in the Yangtze River, the temples were destroyed, and the local people would always continue to complain after the temples were destroyed. After reconstruction, it was not until and in the Yuan Dynasty that it was officially built to its current scale.
Yan Yong told reporters that the current appearance of Guanjian Pavilion is what it looked like during the Yuan Dynasty. Although it has experienced more than 700 years of history, the foundation and main building are still leftover from the Yuan Dynasty.
Ancient people usually built temples in beautiful mountains. Why build a temple on the Yangtze River? Yan Yong said that Ezhou has a long history of more than 5,000 years. In Huarong, Futon, Yanji, Taihe, Tujianao and other places, 10 Neolithic Age ruins and more than 20 Xia and Shang Dynasty ruins have been discovered. In the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Xiong Hong, the king of E, built the city of Ewang in the southwest of the territory (now part of Daye City). During the reign of King Yi of Zhou , Ezhou was an important fiefdom, military town and economic center of Chu State.
In the Yuan Dynasty, commerce here was prosperous and shipping on the Yangtze River was developed. However, there was a reef in the river, and ships might run aground at night. In order to ensure the safety of sailing, the ancients built a temple here to warn passing ships.
The indoor drainage system embodies the wisdom of the ancients
Guanyin Pavilion faces east and west, standing against the water. Follow the bluestone steps to the viewing platform of Guanyin Pavilion. At the west gate, there is a "U" shaped wall that is integrated with Guanyin Pavilion.
"This is a water-retaining wall to protect the main body of Guanyin Pavilion from flood impact." Zhang Yu, an interpreter of Ezhou Museum, said that Guanyin Pavilion is 24 meters long, 10 meters wide and 14 meters high. The base is more than 1 meter thick. It is made of stone strips 60 cm wide, 20 cm wide and 25 cm high, with a total area of 419 square meters. The pavilion is built with blue bricks and is a typical pavilion-style building with a wooden frame structure. It is perfectly integrated with your Longpanji and is ingenious.
On the wall of the main entrance of Guanyin Pavilion are engraved three powerful characters "Guanyin Pavilion". Zhang Yu introduced that Guanyin Pavilion is divided into one pavilion, three halls and a second floor. On the side of the waterproof wall next to the observation deck is the Guanlan Pavilion. Standing on the pavilion, you can overlook the roaring river. Entering the Guanyin Pavilion is the Dongfang Shuo Hall.Zhang Yu said that it is said that when the Yangtze River flooded, Dongfang Shuo used his magical power to prevent the sacred turtles and dragons in the river from causing trouble. Therefore, the folk worship of Dongfang Shuo's statue to suppress the horizontal demons is a kind of good public opinion that promotes good and punishes evil and hopes for peace. In the corner on the left side of the entrance, there is a rectangular opening, about 30 cm long and 20 cm wide, in the shape of an "L". "This is the drainage system of Guanyin Pavilion," Zhang Yu said. This is the lowest point of the entire attic. Once flooded, this hole can quickly drain away the flood when the tide goes out.
The main hall in the middle is the Guanyin Hall, where a portrait of Guanyin Bodhisattva is enshrined. Zhang Yu told reporters that as early as the 1980s, folk legend said that the 19th day of the second lunar month, the 19th day of the sixth lunar month and the 19th day of the ninth lunar month were the birthdays, enlightenment days and nirvana days of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Those who went to the pavilion to offer incense were not far away. They come from thousands of miles away.
The last major hall is the Laojun Hall. There is a patio next to Guanyin. The pool below is made of white marble strips. Rainwater is collected through the patio and discharged outside the pavilion. There is an ancient well in the middle next to the patio. When the manhole cover is opened, the air is cold and deep. According to Zhang Yu, this ancient well is very magical. During the dry season of the Yangtze River, the water in the well is often several feet above the water surface. But in recent years, the ancient well has suddenly dried up for unknown reasons.
Through Laojun Hall, you can enter the Chunyang Building on the second floor. There are three rooms in the building, including a sleeping couch and a sleeping statue of Lu Dongbin. There are also simple stone sculptures of Guanyin and lifelike statues of the Eight Immortals in the pavilion.
Next to the Guanyin Hall, there are two side rooms with stone mills and stone mortars. "This is the 'Yinbin Building' and was later converted into a living room," Zhang Yu said. There are wooden windows all around the entire building, providing excellent lighting.
Why does Guanyin Pavilion enshrine the Buddhist statue of Guanyin, as well as the statues of Taoist gods such as Taishang Laojun and the Eight Immortals? According to Zhang Yu, this is why the Guanyin Pavilion is different from other temples. In the Song Dynasty, only the Buddhist Guanyin was worshiped here. As time went by, later generations believed that Taoism could ward off evil spirits, so they invited Taishang Laojun and the Eight Immortals to enter the Guanyin Pavilion. Later, Dongfang Shuo was also invited into the pavilion.
The National Cultural Relics Protection Unit is not open yet
The entire Guanyin Pavilion is built on stone and has a solid foundation. In addition, the building itself is made of red stone and blue bricks, which is not afraid of blisters. Therefore, it has suffered floods for more than 700 years, but it still stands tall. fall.
Yan Yong told reporters that the water level of Guanyin Pavilion is 23.5 meters, the warning water level is 25.3 meters, and the guaranteed water level is 28.2 meters. However, in the past hundred years, Guanyin Pavilion has never exceeded the guaranteed water level. In the 1998 flood, Guanyin Pavilion exceeded the warning water level and reached 27.23 meters. All three major halls on the first floor were flooded. The floods soaked the windows of Chunyang Building on the second floor into the river. This flood caused the wooden structure on the back of Laojun Hall to collapse. Walls damaged.
The most serious flooding of Guanyin Pavilion was in 1954, when the water level reached 27.65 meters, only 0.55 meters away from the guaranteed water level. Guanyin Pavilion was almost destroyed. Before the Three Gorges Dam was built, Guanyin Pavilion was flooded every year. Since the dam was built, the flooding has been alleviated. However, the three main halls are still flooded every year. Last year, the main hall was flooded by about 1 meter.
Every flood tide floods the pavilion, leaving only the high-rise windows and even the eaves, dragon's kiss, and middle pavilion in the vast Yangtze River. As soon as the flood season is over, the water comes out, and it emerges from the sky again, majestic in the center of the river.
Guanyin Pavilion was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Hubei Province in 1992 and a national key cultural relic protection unit in 2006. The Ezhou Guanyin Pavilion can be preserved to this day, and it is inseparable from the careful care of the cultural relics protection department. After the flood in 1998 and in 2015, the Guanyin Pavilion underwent overall repairs. This year, the Ezhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau installed dozens of cameras around and indoors the Guanyin Pavilion to monitor the place in real time.
In order to protect this cultural relic, the Ezhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau has currently closed the pavilion for viewing, and citizens can only watch it from across the river.
Attached are the major events of Guanyin Pavilion:
Song Dynasty: "Guanyin Pavilion" was named after the Song Dynasty, and there was originally a small temple built there.
Yuan Dynasty: In the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1341), Qi Tieshan (a Mongolian) in Daluga, Wuchang County, built a stone platform and built the Panlongji Temple. This is the predecessor of the Guanyin Pavilion seen today.
Ming Dynasty: At the beginning of the first year of Hongzhi (1488), monk Jueshou raised money to repair Guanyin Pavilion.
Qing Dynasty:
In the spring of the sixth year of Jiajing (1527), the Wuchang magistrate Xu Jingqing led his staff to Panlongji and said, "Wuchang's wonders are indispensable without this." He told monk Jueshou's disciple Zong Hong and Hubei officials Yuan Xi, Chen Luan and others raised funds to rebuild it, and added Chunyang Tower and Guanlan Pavilion.
In the winter of the tenth year of Jiajing (1531), the new magistrate Li Zongyang led his staff to repair it.
In August of the third year of Tongzhi (1864), the Imperial Commissioner of Huguang and the Governor of Huguang, Guanwen (a Manchu), were stationed in Huangzhou. He happened to see a small island called Panlongji in the middle of the Wuchang River and learned that it was one of the eight scenic spots in Wuchang. 1. After landing on the island, he wrote the four words "Dragon Pan Xiaodu", donated a large sum of money, and asked the doctor Wang Jiabi to rebuild the stone on the lintel.
The flood in the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901) was more serious than that in the first year of Daoguang (1849). There was a strange wind for three days and nights, and the waves flew several feet high, damaging the walls of the pavilion, and the side rooms of the Liangdong Palace were lost with the waves. After the water receded, in the 30th year of Guangxu (1904), the temple abbot Li Yuanke and Zheng Luzhong, a layman from Hubei, worked together to raise funds from the people, gentry and merchants for reconstruction.
Republic of China: In the 20th year of the Republic of China (1931), the flood was three feet smaller than the water in the first year of Daoguang. Buildings collapsed and rafters collapsed, and not even an inch of wood or tiles remained. It happened that the wood merchant Chen Zhisheng was going eastward on a raft and was stranded. In Jitou, he could not push forward or retreat, so he donated thousands of foreign fir trees and 60 fir trees, and presided over Zhang Qingyi and local gentry to renovate it.
After the founding of New China:
In 1954, another flood occurred for a century, and the pavilion was washed away into ruins. It was later rebuilt under the leadership of the Echeng County People's Government.
From 1982 to 1985, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Ezhou Municipal Government allocated funds to rebuild the Guanyin Pavilion, and it was reopened to the people in 1985.
In 1992, Guanyin Pavilion was praised as a cultural relic protection unit in Hubei Province by the Hubei Provincial Government.
In July 1996, when the summer news arrived, the floods surged, exceeding the flood of 1954. Half of the southeast platform of the pavilion collapsed, and some doors and windows were swept away by huge waves. After the water receded, the Ezhou City Museum was repaired and rebuilt. Purchase ferries and implement strict management.
In September 1998, Guanyin Pavilion suffered a flood and some facilities were destroyed. The Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau allocated funds for repairs.
In 2001, Ezhou City established the Guanyin Pavilion Management Office, which is affiliated with the Ezhou Museum to implement effective management of the Guanyin Pavilion.
In 2002, the Ezhou Municipal Museum raised funds to repair the Guanyin Pavilion.
On June 12, 2006, Guanyin Pavilion was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relic protection unit.
On December 10, 2008, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage issued the "Reply on the Survey and Design Plan for the Ezhou Guanyin Pavilion Cultural Relics Protection Project", agreeing in principle with the plan submitted by Ezhou City, and the provincial Cultural Relics Bureau approved and implemented it.
From March 18 to May 18, 2015, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage allocated special protection funds to carry out the first scientific and standardized overhaul of the Guanyin Pavilion building body.
In July 2016, Guanyin Pavilion was damaged by floods. In December of the same year, the Ezhou Municipal Museum completed the repair work.
On March 7, 2017, the main body maintenance and post-disaster maintenance of the Guanyin Pavilion cultural relics protection and restoration project passed the acceptance of the Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, and the ship "Longpan"
completed the trial sea trial and handover, and the personnel were in place and started working with certificates.
In 2019, the Ezhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau installed dozens of cameras around and indoors the Guanyin Pavilion to monitor the place in real time.
Chutian Metropolis Daily reporter Liang Chuansong Chutian Metropolis Daily photographer Wang Yongsheng Correspondent He Jingxing
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