Dongxi Tower

The east and west pagodas are located on the east and west sides of the front of Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou. The two pagodas are about 200 meters apart and each covers an area of about 50 square meters. The east pagoda is named "Zhenguo Pagoda". In the sixth year of Xiantong (AD 865), Zen Master Wen Yan, the founder of the building, built a five-story wooden pagoda. After several times of destruction and refurbishment, Yimu is a brick. In the second year of Jiaxi (AD 1238), Master Benhong changed bricks into stone, and then Master Faquan and Master Tianxi continued to build it, and it took ten years before and after it was completed. The east tower is 48.24 meters high, and the tower plane is divided into four parts: the cloister, the outer wall, the inner cloister and the octagonal column in the center of the tower. The tower is a frame structure. The central column of the tower runs straight through each floor and is the support of the entire tower. The tower wall is made of processed and carved granite, which is stacked in a criss-cross method, with accurate calculation and meticulous construction. The solid foundation is equipped with a solid tower core that conforms to the principles of mechanics, so that this building, which weighs more than 10,000 tons, has stood still despite more than 700 years of wind, frost and rain. Even an eight-magnitude earthquake in AD 1604 could not shake its foundations. The stone tower is not only sturdy, but also exquisite in shape. The eaves of the tower stretch out in an arc shape, and the corners of the eaves are high, which makes the tower body look like it is about to fly in the sky and looks light. There are four doors and four niches on each floor, which are interchanged floor by floor. This will not only disperse the gravity evenly, but also make the appearance of the tower more vivid and beautiful. Each tower eaves corner has a bronze duo. When the breeze blows, the duo sound is ding-dong, which is pleasant to the ear. In 1997, the East Pagoda was selected for the stamps of the four famous pagodas in the country, and it can be called the king of stone pagodas. The West Pagoda is called Renshou Pagoda. In the third year of Liang Zhenming of the Five Dynasties (AD 917), Wang Shenzhi came to Quanzhou from Fuzhou Fanhaimu to build this pagoda. In the fourth year of Zhenghe in Beilai (AD 1114), he asked for the name "Ren Shou Pagoda". It was destroyed and rebuilt many times before and after. The self-certified master turned bricks into stones and was built ten years before the East Tower. The West Tower is 44.06 meters high, slightly lower than the East Tower, and its scale is almost the same as the East Tower. The male bearded Avalokitesvara and the Monkey Walker reliefs arouse widespread interest among tourists and scholars. The stone pagoda of Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou is a treasure of ancient stone architecture in my country. From the perspective of architectural scale, shape and craftsmanship of the stone pagoda, it can be said to be exquisite. It is not only a symbol of the unprecedented prosperity of Quanzhou's society during the heyday of overseas transportation in the Middle Ages, but also a unique symbol of Quanzhou's famous historical and cultural city.