A recent hit movie "Chang'an 30,000 Li", based on the friendship between Gao Shi and Li Bai, tells the process of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline.
The storyline has ups and downs, in which the Yellow Crane Tower burned down in the Anshi Rebellion contrasts sharply with the Yellow Crane Tower at the height of the Tang Dynasty, making countless netizens regret that such a magnificent Yellow Crane Tower was destroyed by fire.
The Yellow Crane Tower of the Tang Dynasty (data map)
The Yellow Crane Tower burned down during the Anshi Rebellion (data map)
Yellow crane tower
The Yellow Crane Tower is located in Wuchang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, bordering the Yangtze River, and is a landmark building in Wuhan.
It was built in the second year of Wu Huangwu of the Three Kingdoms (223), and has been repeatedly rebuilt throughout the dynasties, and the existing building was designed based on the "Tongzhi Building" in the Qing Dynasty and rebuilt in 1985.
Since ancient times, it has the reputation of "superb scenery under the world", and Yueyang Tower in Hunan and Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang, Jiangxi Nanchang, it is known as the "three famous buildings in Jiangnan", the first of the "Ten Scenic Views of Wuhan", one of the "Four Famous Buildings in Ancient China", one of the "Top Ten Historical and Cultural Buildings in China", and known as "the first building of Jiangshan in the world".
Ancient Yellow Crane Tower Map (Data Map)
The Yellow Crane Tower fires often occur during the period
The Yellow Crane Tower fire that can be examined mostly occurred in the Ming and Qing dynasties:
1. In the autumn of the forty-second year of Ming Jiajing (1563), the Yellow Crane Tower caught fire due to lightning. (Ming Sun Chengrong's "Yellow Crane Tower Collection")
2. In the seventeenth year of the Wanli Ming Dynasty (1589), a fire broke out in Hanyangmen, spreading and burning more than 1,000 homes, and the Yellow Crane Tower was also destroyed by fire. (Jiangxia County Chronicle in the Eighth Year of Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty)
3. In the twenty-fifth year of the Wanli Ming Dynasty (1597), a fire broke out near the Yellow Crane Tower, and when the wind was strong, the fire penetrated the house and crossed the house, spread to the city tower and the county capital Yamen, and affected the Yellow Crane Tower. In this fire, 1,800 homes were burned down, and the Yellow Crane Tower was also "turned into ashes". (Hubei Tongzhi in the Tenth Decade of the Republic of China)
4. In the 27th year of the Wanli Ming Dynasty (1599), a fire broke out in Wuchang, destroying thousands of homes, and the county capital Yamen and the Yellow Crane Tower were also burned. (Jiangxia County Chronicle in the Eighth Year of Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty)
5. In the sixteenth year of the Ming Chongzhen reign (1643), the Yellow Crane Tower was burned down by soldiers. ("Continuing the Hankou Series")
6. In the third year of the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty (1664), in March, a fire broke out in the Yellow Crane Tower and the City Gate Tower, and the fire continued, and the city was on fire. (Qing Kangxi's "Wuchang Fuzhi")
7. In the twentieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty (1681), the Yellow Crane Tower caught fire due to lightning. (Hubei Tongzhi, the first year of Qing Xuantong)
8. In the sixth year of Qing Xianfeng (1856), the Yellow Crane Tower was destroyed in war. ("Continuing Hankou Cong Talks into the Eighth Year of Qing Tongzhi "Jiangxia County Record")
9. At dusk on the fourth day of the eighth month of the tenth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1884), the residence of Dongjiapo outside the Hanyang Gate caught fire, and the fire quickly spread to the mountain.
Yellow Crane Tower "Ancient Monuments Cloud Death" fire map (data map)
Why do fires occur frequently in the Yellow Crane Tower?
As a famous ancient building, the Yellow Crane Tower has been rebuilt with wooden structures over the generations, which is dry and flammable. Until 1985, in order to avoid fire, the new Yellow Crane Tower used a reinforced concrete frame imitation wood structure.
The pavilion built before this, as a gathering place for literati from previous dynasties, the furnishings and calligraphy and painting works in the Yellow Crane Tower are all flammable, and if you are not careful, or encounter an external fire source, it will become a fire.
In addition, it is located in the downtown area of Wuhan, known as the "stove", the summer temperature is hot and hot, the autumn days are dry, the surrounding is densely populated, there are many houses and shops, living fire, candle lighting, extremely dense, and the poor dwellings are bamboo [miè] wooden planks for walls, thatched roofed simple sheds, fires are prone to occur, once the fire, the river breeze cheers, spread fast and difficult to rescue.
Like most historic buildings, the Yellow Crane Tower was destroyed many times by war. The Peasant War at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the Taiping Rebellion both caused the Yellow Crane Tower to be burned.
Among the surrounding buildings built next to the river, the Yellow Crane Tower is still the tallest "high-rise building", and the lightning strike fire is also a cause of the fire.
Modern Yellow Crane Tower (Infographic)
Ancient Chinese buildings are mostly wooden structures and are difficult to preserve, and the Yellow Crane Tower is a typical wooden building.
In ancient and modern times, Wuhan, as a battleground for soldiers of previous dynasties, the Yellow Crane Tower has been destroyed in wars many times and has been repeatedly destroyed. What we see that has changed is architecture, and what has not changed is the inheritance of cultural spirit from ancient times to the present.
As a historical building that condenses ancient Chinese culture, the Yellow Crane Tower has the historical value of traditional Chinese literature that lasts for thousands of years, it carries the treasures of Chinese culture, witnesses the historical changes of China, and is an ancient and precious cultural heritage.
The fire protection of ancient buildings is a responsibility entrusted to us by the times, which is of great significance and a long way to go.
Bibliography:
[1] Baidu Encyclopedia. Yellow crane tower
[2] Wuhan Fire Department. The People's Network "Fire Time Machine" was destroyed in the Yellow Crane Tower of the fire