Qingpu's cultural relics and historic sites have always been rich and colorful, during the Tang Dynasty there were hundreds of temples and pavilions alone, but after the vicissitudes of life, most of them ceased to exist under the double destruction of time and war, coupled with the lack of awareness of cultural relics protection in the past dynasties, to the Republic of China period, many historic sites have been in name only. Today, let's take a look at the three ancient towers that exist in Qingpu District today.
Qinglong Temple Tower
Qinglong Temple Pagoda is a pagoda, built on the south side of Qinglong Temple, located in Qinglong Village, Baihe Town, which is the oldest existing pagoda in Shanghai. Qinglong Temple was built in the second year of Tang Tianbao (743), and its original name was "Baode Temple". In the first year of Tang Changqing (821), the temple was rebuilt, and a seven-level floating pagoda was built along the river in the south of the temple, which was named "Longfu Temple Tower". Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty toured to the south and changed his name to "Jiyun Temple Tower", also known as "Qinglong Wild Goose Tower". The name of the tower "Qinglong Tower" is just a local common name.
Qing Guangxu magazine "Qingpu County Chronicles" recorded the relevant introduction of Jiyun Temple and tower (Qinglong Temple, tower).
The tower was rebuilt in the Song Kangding (1040-1041) and Qingli years (1041-1048), and has been overhauled many times since then. For the rebuilding of the Song Dynasty, there is such a legend: Han Shizhong, the hero of the Southern Song Dynasty, led the army to resist the Jin soldiers, when the army was stationed here, in order to commemorate the repulsion of the Jin soldiers, a great victory, the soldiers were specially ordered to use the flagpole in the army as the heart of the tower, and repair the Qinglong Tower. In addition, it is commendable that in the third year of Yuan Dade (1299), the first year of Zhihe (1308), and the third year of Zhizheng (1343), Ren Renfa, a calligrapher and painter from Qingpu and a water conservancy expert, and his son Ren Xiande and his grandson Ren Shizhi successively funded the repair of the tower. Subsequently, in the seventeenth year of Ming Chongzhen (1644), Zhu Mingjing, a native of Yi, repaired the tower again. In the fifth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1648), the monk Baiyu repaired it again. After more than 300 years, the tower has gone through vicissitudes of life, and no one has repaired it again, so "the staircase is completely destroyed, the waist eaves are gone, the tower body is tilted, and it is precarious". Due to disrepair, coupled with the fierce typhoon in the summer and autumn of 1956, the copper gourd on the top of the tower was blown off by the wind, and was later treasured in the Qingpu District Museum, and the words "Ming Chongzhen 17 years" on the copper gourd are clearly visible. Since then, the tower has gradually attracted the attention of the relevant parties, and in 1959 was listed as a county-level cultural relics protection unit, and in 1960 was listed as a city-level cultural relics protection unit.
Old photo of Qinglong Temple Tower
The Qinglong Pagoda is a brick and wood structure with seven levels and eight sides. Due to disrepair, the tower was once seriously tilted. In 1992, the tilt of the tower body was specially measured, and it was found that the tower body deviated from the center by as much as 1.56 meters, inclination of 14 degrees, and it was already overturning. To this end, Professor Cao Shizhong, a well-known building correction expert of the Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee, made a special trip to rectify it and built a fence to protect it.
Qinglong Temple Tower
Qingpu Archives "From the Source of Shanghai to the Gate of Shanghai - 500 Years of Qingpu Archives and Historical Materials Exhibition" exhibition content: Qinglong Temple Tower
Mao Tower
Mao Pagoda is a lighthouse, located on a small island in the Mao River (Xiaozhou is now known as Sun Island), belonging to Zhujiajiao Town. In the Tang Dynasty (874-879), monks such as the sea in the Mao River to build a platform and build a tower, dig a well and build a pavilion, the tower built because of the Mao River and commonly known as "Mao Tower".
Qing Guangxu magazine "Qingpu County Chronicles" recorded the introduction of "Futian Temple" and "Mao Pagoda".
The body of the tower is square, a total of five levels and four sides, the structure is simple, with the style of the Tang Dynasty. After the tower is built, the surrounding pavilion is built one after another, and the name is "Chengzhao Zen Temple". During the reign of Song Jingding (1260-1264), it was renamed "Futian Temple", and later renamed "Changshui Pagoda Temple". At that time, the Mao River was quite vast, belonging to the main waterway, and there were many ships coming and going in the river, all of which were marked by the Mao Tower, and the lights hanging on the top of the tower at night came to indicate the channel for the ships coming and going. In the fifteenth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty (1835), when Lin Zexu was the governor of Jiangsu, he went to Qingpu to investigate water conservancy and climbed the tower to inspect the water potential of the Mao River.
Old photos of the pagoda
The pagoda has always been a famous tourist attraction, attracting many literati and inkmen in the history of the mainland to climb the tower to watch the scenery, leaving many ink treasures. Song Huizong Zhao Ji gave the plaque of "Yunshan Hall", Zhu Xi inscribed "Jiangshan View Building", Zhao Mengfu once wrote the word "abbot", the Ming Dynasty Huating people, the famous calligrapher, the lyricist Li Zhiwen has the plaque of "Immersion Moon and Tibetan Tobacco", Dong Qichang is the book of "Little Golden Mountain" plaque, etc., the ink treasure is gathered, and the layout is elegant. Tu Long of the Ming Dynasty wrote "Futian Temple Tower Courtyard Record", praising the scenery of the tower courtyard as "the most victorious landscape between Xun clouds".
The pagoda before it was renovated
During the Ming Shun period (1457-1464), the monk Dao Tai raised funds to repair the pagoda, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty (1522-1566), Lin Mao donated funds to repair the pagoda, and the monk Zhiming built the Daxiong Treasure Hall, the Treasure Pavilion and the stone berm. Qianlong also repaired it during the Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Taiping army was active here, the temple was looted by the soldiers, and during the Anti-Japanese War, most of the buildings were destroyed, and the Chengzhao Zen Temple also only left the remnants of the tower, the treasure bottle at the top of the tower was stolen, and the waist eaves of each layer collapsed.
Mao Tower
In September 1962, the pagoda was announced as a cultural relics protection unit in Shanghai, and in 1995, it was restored by the Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee as it was. In 2023, a new round of renovation work will be completed. In view of the unique historical and cultural value of the tower, it was declared as a "World Navigation Heritage" by the International Association of Navigation Beacons in 1997 and was included in the list of lighthouses of world historical relics.
Qingpu Archives "From the Source of Shanghai to the Gate of Shanghai - Qingpu 500 Years of Archival Historical Materials Exhibition" exhibition content: Mao Tower
Wanshou Tower
Wanshou Tower is located in the south of Qingpu City (formerly Qingpu Town) by the Dianpu River, commonly known as the South Gate Tower. It was built in the eighth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1743) and rebuilt in the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1774).
Old photos of the Longevity Tower
The tower is square, with seven levels and four sides, and is made of bricks and wood. Wanshou Pagoda is the early Qianlong literati and gentlemen of the Qing Dynasty to praise the peaceful and prosperous times of the imperial court and raise funds to build, according to the Qing Dynasty Wang Dexin's "Tower Courtyard Record" record, it is by the local "scholar doctor and the father and son of the old son to lose money, imitation of the floating image teaching, built outside the south gate, Danhuang is bright, towering in the sky. The work is completed, and the name is enshrined, called the longevity of the people of the Yi look at the clouds, feel the hundred years of cultivation to protect the Ze, the sound of the long live song and prayer, and by repaying the country's kindness, not in vain to shine civilization such as the story of the wild goose pagoda, for the fashionable title of the place. "Originally, there are halls, halls, and so on around the tower, covering an area of more than 30 acres, called Wanshou Tower Courtyard, the courtyard has three halls, the momentum is magnificent. The Longevity Pagoda has nothing to do with Buddhism and is not a religious building, but the pagoda is quite spiritual. According to the Qing Dynasty Qianlong magazine "Qingpu County Chronicles", at the beginning of the thirteenth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1748), the river water in Qingpu County suddenly became salty like brine, but the river water in front of the Wanshou Pagoda in the south of the city did not change, for the whole city to drink.
In the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1774), Jinshi Xu Shu built the tower as a sole proprietorship. In the forty-third year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1778), the tower was struck by lightning and was seriously damaged. In the forty-sixth year of Qianlong (1781), Wang Chang's mother died and asked for leave to return to his hometown. During the mourning period, at the invitation of Yang Zhuo, the magistrate of Qingpu County, he presided over the compilation of the Qianlong journal "Qingpu County Chronicles" of the Qing Dynasty, and the headquarters of the revision of the county chronicles was located in Wanshou Pagoda Courtyard at that time. In addition to compiling the chronicles, Wang Chang also compiled a "Biography of Qingpu Poems", which collected the poems of literati in Qingpu County and left a cultural heritage for the people of Qingpu. Qing Jiaqing five years (1800) on the east side of the tower courtyard to build Qingxi Academy, at that time Wang Chang has resigned from the Beijing Division of the Criminal Department of the right waiter, returned to the hometown to retire, despite the 77-year-old age, still invited to give a lecture in Qingxi Academy, the academy all day long. In the ninth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1883), there was a coppersmith who went up to the tower to steal tin, and caught fire when he melted tin, and most of the wooden structure was burned.
Wanshou Tower
In 1959, Wanshou Pagoda was listed as the first batch of cultural relics protection units in Qingpu County. In 1982, a stone revetment was built at the base of the river, and a dragon's back window wall was built around it, and trees were planted in the wall. In 1993 and 2009, the tower was repaired and reinforced.
Qingpu Archives "From the Source of Shanghai to the Gate of Shanghai - Qingpu 500 Years of Archival Historical Materials Exhibition" exhibition content: Wanshou Tower
This article is compiled from "Qingpu County Chronicles" (1985-2000 edition) and "Words of Qingpu - The Soul of the Ancients"
Source: Qingpu Archives
Editor: Shen Yiqing