Datong Drum Tower was built in an age examination

Datong Drum Tower was built in an age examination

World of Cultural Relics, No. 05, 2010

Who built the Datong Drum Tower? When was it founded? It is not recorded in the Shanxi Tongzhi. The "Datong Fu Zhi" and "Datong County Chronicle" that can be seen now only record that the Drum Tower was built in the Ming Dynasty, and do not explicitly answer this question. In the "Four Libraries Complete Book", the author found the "Datong Drum Tower Record" written by Li Xian in the Ming Dynasty. Through the study of this article, it seems that the builder and founding date of the Datong Drum Tower can be determined.

1. The existing Datong Drum Tower

The existing Datong Drum Tower is located in the middle section of Yongtai Street (South Street) in Datong District, and is a typical representative of Minglou Pavilion architecture (Figure 1).

Qing Wu Fuhong's "Chronicle of Datong Fu" (Qianlong edition) records: "The Drum Tower was built in the southeast of Fuzhi, Yongtai Street, and in the Ming Dynasty. It was repaired in the Shunzhi year of the State Dynasty and rebuilt in the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762)." [1]. Similar records are found in other Datong Fu Zhi or Datong County Chronicles. In the forty-sixth year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1781) and the second year of Xianfeng (1852), the drum tower was repaired twice.

In Datong of the Ming Dynasty, there are many pavilions and gorgeous buildings, with the Taiping Tower of Heyang Street in the east; the Bell Tower of Qingyuan Street in the west; the Kuixing Tower of Wuding Street in the north; and the Drum Tower of Yongtai Street in the south. Unfortunately, most of these pavilions were destroyed by natural and man-made disasters in the past, and only the drum towers survived. Datong Drum Tower is a three-storey pavilion-style building with an eaves cross-stop peak, the plane is approximately square, the face is wide and deep, and the bottom floor is made of brick and stone, with an east-west length of 17.85 meters, a north-south width of 14.55 meters, and a height of about 20 meters. The first floor of the cross pierces the heart, and there are stairs on the northwest wall to reach the second and third floors. The third floor of this wooden pavilion has a single-roofed three-step canopy. Beware of the three saves between the hearts, the second two saves, the left and right mountains are the same, the first and second floors of the eaves under the eaves of the bucket for one bucket and two liters of hemp leaves, the distribution of the number of buckets in each opening is the same as the third layer. The second and third floors are opened on all four sides, which are six-dimensional fans, and there are railings on the outside, and tourists can look out over the railings, and the whole Datong City has a panoramic view. Under the outer eaves of the upper floor of the building, there are nine maintenance inscriptions from the Shunzhi, Kangxi and Xianfeng eras of the Qing Dynasty, but the handwriting is vague and difficult to read.

In the early years, there was a plaque hanging under the eaves of the second and third floors of the Drum Tower: "Song Feng" in the east and "Spring Dawn in the Clouds"; "Drum Tower" in the south and up, "Sound and Sound"; "Zhende" in the west and "Harmony Sound"; "Shi Yong" in the north, and "Zhan Yun on the Moon" below. The Kangxi Imperial Pen Yang Lian is engraved on the two pillars east and west of the north entrance of the Drum Tower, the upper link is "The world makes three points, the sky is wide and wide", and the lower link is "Leave a little in the heart field, the son and sun cultivate", these plaques have not been preserved, which is a pity.

In April 1966, the Datong Municipal People's Committee issued a public announcement announcing that the Datong Drum Tower was a municipal cultural relics protection unit. In 1978, the cultural relics department comprehensively strengthened and repaired the Datong Drum Tower and painted it with new paintings. And on the ground floor, east, west, south and north are installed two door panels, just like the ancient style. Datong Drum Tower is now a key cultural relics protection unit in Shanxi Province.

2. The Chronicle of datong Drum Tower and its author

1. The original text of "Datong Drum Tower"

The Siku Quanshu Collections includes the Datong Drum Tower Chronicle written by Li Xian in the Ming Dynasty. The literature recorded in the Drum Tower may be the only one that can be included in the "Four Libraries Complete Book". Famous drum towers in the country, such as Beijing Drum Tower, Tianjin Drum Tower, Nanjing Drum Tower, Xi'an Drum Tower, etc., are not included in the "Four Libraries Complete Book". It can be seen that the importance of "Datong Drum Tower Record" for in-depth study of drum tower culture. This article is not going to discuss the Datong Drum Tower in depth, but for the reference of other researchers, the full text of the Datong Drum Tower Is hereby recorded (the punctuation in the article is added by the author).

Datong Drum Tower

Although the construction of the Drum Tower is at the end of the government, it is very important. And man knows the place of the moment when he has eyes during the day, and when he does not drum at night to show it, he is dazed and ignorant, but he is more drummed so that the eyes of the generation are also. One county and one county, one county, one county, one hundred tools, many servants, and the people gathered, there will be more drums to show it, then there will be a period without losing its knots, and the affairs will be prospered by it. Datong is a large border county, with princes living in it, generals in towns, xian courtiers, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians. Or: "Even more drumming said that although it is enough, and the building that must be inhabited, the cost of the building is also very large, but then it is not a matter of labor and wealth to the people!" "The system of the ancient counties will be built at the city gate to store bells and drums, and the name is known as the temple, and it is used to warn the people." If its momentum is not high, its voice is not loud, and people's hearing is not widespread. "If the construction of the first floor is heard by hundreds of thousands of people, then the expenses are few, and the benefits are many, and why should the people and the people be hurtful?" Or: "The drum of the tower, the festival of strict dawn, now I think I know where the moment is, why not?" The festival of dawn can be known to all who have sight, but at five o'clock in the night there are eight moments that no one sees, so the drum of the tower is added to the more. The movement of the heavens is more than ninety thousand miles a day and a night, and although the gentleman has settled down to the obscurity, the heavens have not failed to run. When Gou knows the operation because of the drum, then all those who are ministers, rather than raise up their self-improvement ambitions, but send their keys! It's the end of the twilight!

Zhangwu Bo Yang Gongxin and Du Chayuan Right Deputy Imperial Envoy Wang Gongyue tried to build a drum tower in the county, and the county guard Li Fu went to The Capital to ask for a record, so he described it as natural, so he yizhi.

2 Li Xian, author of "Datong Drum Tower"

The Biography of Li Xian of the Ming Dynasty records that Li Xian (1408-1466), also known as Yuan De, was a native of Dengzhou (present-day Dengzhou, Henan) in the Ming Dynasty. He has been engaged in politics for more than 30 years, and is one of the rare rulers in the history of the Ming Dynasty. In the seventh year of Ming Xuande (1432), he was the first in the township examination and the second year. After inspecting the locust plague in Hejin and other places, he was entrusted with the chief of the inspection department. In the 10th year of orthodoxy (1445), he was promoted to Kao Gong Lang Zhong, and later to Wen Xuan Lang Zhong. In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449), the "change of civil engineering", Emperor Yingzong was taken captive, and Li Xian escaped and returned to Beijing. In the second year of Jingtai (1451), shangzheng ben shizhi, daizong regarded as a motto. He also discussed the benefits of chariot firearms, and was promoted to the right attendant of the military department, the right attendant of the transfer department, and the following year he was transferred to the right attendant of the official department. Li Xianbo collected the experience of ancient kings in governing and compiled it as the "Record of Ancient Classics", which was used as a reference for Emperor Daizong's administration.

In the first year of Tianshun (1457), Emperor Yingzong restored, moved Li Xian to hanlin bachelor, entered the cabinet, and promoted the official Shangshu. In the fifth year of Tianshun (1461), he was crown prince Taibao. Li Xian held up his talents and abilities, taking it as an urgent task to cherish talents and open up the road, and he was loyal and upright to Geng Jie, and Emperor Yingzong would summon Li Xian when things happened, and Li Xian's opinions were mostly adopted. In the eighth year of Tianshun (1464), Emperor Yingzong became seriously ill and summoned Li Xian to entrust him with a heavy responsibility. In the first year of Chenghua (1465), Emperor Xianzong ascended the throne, and Jin Xian was appointed as Shaobao, Shangshu of the Bureaucracy, and Scholar of Huagaiden University. Li Xian regularly advised Emperor Xianzong to be pro-xian and far-reaching, diligent in government and loving the people. In December of the second year of Chenghua (1466), Li Xian fell ill and died. Tejin Guanglu Doctor, Zuozhu Guotaishi, nicknamed Wenda.

Li Xian's "Records of The Ancient Classics" and "Records of Experience" have ceased to exist. Books such as "Tianshun Rilu" and "Ancient Collection of Writings" are included in the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book", which are still passed down to the world.

Third, the era of datong drum tower

Li Xian, the author of datong drum tower, died of illness in 1466, so the datong drum tower should be written before 1466, that is, the lower limit of the construction age of datong drum tower is 1466.

According to the "Construction of the French Style" "Drum Bell Double Que, The Customization of the City", Datong built the drum tower at the same time, but also built the bell tower. Qianlong's "Chronicle of Datong Fu" records: "The Bell Tower, in Shuaifu Street, was built in the Ming Dynasty. It was rebuilt in the twenty-sixth year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1761)." The Datong Bell Tower was demolished in 1951, leaving only a large bell. The bell is 2.12 meters high, 1.3 meters in diameter, 10 meters thick and weighs 9999 pounds. Hit it, the sound is 30 miles. The bell is cast with the words "Daming Jingtai Four Years April Auspicious Day System". The fourth year of Ming Jingtai was 1453. We can infer that the construction of drum towers and bell towers in Datong in the Ming Dynasty should be a larger project, and preliminary preparations must be carried out: demonstration, design, fundraising, preparation of materials, and so on. The manufacture of the bell tower bell should be one of the preparatory work, therefore, the bell was made in 1453, but the building is not necessarily 1453, and it is entirely possible to postpone it a few years. But one thing is for sure, according to the records of the big bell, the upper limit age of the construction of the Datong Drum Tower and the Bell Tower should be

1453. The author once published an article in Datong Daily, arguing that the founding date of datong drum tower was 1453 [4], which is not accurate enough now.

The Datong Drum Tower Chronicle says: "Zhangwu Bo Yang Gongxin, the right deputy capital of the Du cha yuan, Wang Gongyue, tried to build the drum tower in the county. ”

Yang Xin (?) –1477)[5], ziwenshi, a native of Liuhe (present-day Liuhe County, Jiangsu), tianshunchu (1457), yang xin garrisoned Yansui. In the third year of Tianshun (1459), he was awarded the title of Wubo for military merit and appointed as the commander-in-chief of Yansui. Yang Xin twice served as the commander-in-chief of Datong. One was from November of the fourth year of Tianshun (1460) to May of the second year of Chenghua (1466), and the other was from April of the third year of Chenghua (1467) to the thirteenth year of Chenghua (1477), and died in office. Gift, Wu Yi. The History of Ming states that Yang Xin "spent thirty years on the side, and the town was quiet and the people were happy." At that time, the Shanxi Xingdu Division was located in Datong City, and Datong had heavy troops guarding, and the highest military commander was the town guard. The Chronicle of Datong Fu records that from the first year of Ming Hongxi (1425), the general of Datong hung the seal of the general Zhengxi, and filled it with the talents of the governor of the five armies and the duke Hou Bo.

Wang Yue (1428–1498)[7], courtesy name Shichang, was a native of Ming Zhili County (present-day Jun County, Henan). The History of Ming states that he was "long-bodied and good at shooting." Involved in the history of books, there is a general outline. "In the second year of Jingtai (1451), Zhongjinshi , The Imperial History of the Officials , Shandong Province. In the seventh year of Tianshun (1463), he was recommended by Li Xian to be promoted to the right deputy capital Yushi and the inspector of Datong. Immediately after Wang Yue arrived in office, he repaired weapons and armor, trained soldiers, repaired fortifications, encouraged agriculture and commerce, and strengthened the defense of Datong. In the third year of Chenghua (1467), he was appointed as the military affairs of Zhu Yong, the Marquis of Funing, and concurrently served as the Fuxuan Prefecture (宣化). In the seventh year of Chenghua (1471), he resigned as the inspector of Datong and added military affairs to the governor, specializing in the "Taokou" affairs. In the tenth year of Chenghua (1474), he was the trilateral general system of Yansui, Ningxia, and Gansu, and was in charge of the northwestern border defense military, and later entered the army department Shangshu, plus prince Taibao. In the sixteenth year of Chenghua (1480), WeiNingbo was sealed. Later, because of Wang Zhi's case, he was impeached and removed from the list. In the seventh year of Koji (1494), he was reinstated as a shoshu of the hyobu and the trilateral system. great

Based on the above analysis, we can draw a preliminary conclusion: Datong Drum Tower was built between 1463 and 1466.

IV. Concluding Remarks

At the end of the "Datong Drum Tower Record", it is written: "The county guard Li Fu went to Beijing to ask for a record, so he described it as natural, so he yizhi." Li Fu, a native of Zhenning (present-day Zhengning, Shaanxi), was the prefect of Datong at the time of datong's construction of the Drum Tower. After the Datong Drum Tower was built, Li Fu went to Beijing to ask Li Xian to write a record for it, which was a very difficult thing to do. There are many similar buildings throughout the country, and Li Xian, as prime minister, is usually unable to write a record of an ordinary drum tower. But he wrote "Datong Drum Tower" alone. The reason for this is that Wang Yue and Li Xian have a very good personal relationship, and Wang Yue is the inspector of Datong, or Li Xian recommended it. Since the construction of the Datong Drum Tower was a project presided over by Wang Yue, Li Xian wrote a record of it and included the Datong Drum Tower in the "Collection of Ancient Songs". During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, when compiling the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book", it was also included in it.