|
¡¡Chinese have a saying ¡±Dongting Lake¡¯s water tops among the world¡¯s water, YueYang Tower tops among the world¡¯s towers¡±. The YueYang Tower was constructed on the YueYang Old Town¡¯s West Gate, with a grand force of view and a remarkable structure, YueYang remains the title of No.1 Tower in China. The tower features in its unique structure and style. There are three floors, cornice, shelled ceiling, timbered frame. The height is 25.35m, a rectangle plane, width 17.2m, depth 15.6m, land coverage 251m2. In the tower the four pillars give the tourists a soaring impression, on the top the eaves are particularly decorated which makes the architecture resplendent and magnificent, just like a large hawk ready to fly.
YueYang Tower was based on the ¡°LuSu Tower for Reviewing Troops¡±, in the Three Kingdoms Times, it was developed ever since. Before the Tang Dynasty, it was mainly for military use. Yet since the Tang, this tower became a popular traveling destination of the tourists and scholars. Poets met here to talk about the poem. At that time the Baling City has been renamed to Yueyang City, therefore the Baling City¡¯s Tower was renamed to YueYang Tower. In the year of Kaiyuan Four (Tang Dynasty¡¯s Emperor of XuanZong, 76 A.C.), a poet who has a reputation of ¡°Yan and Han¡¯s Master¡±, Zhang Shuo, was degraded and dispatched in Yueyang, he hosted many poets to compose essays or poems in the tower. After that, China¡¯s greatest masters like Li Bai, Du Fu also visited this tower, they, together with other poets Li Shangyin, Li Qunyu, etc. left numerous fine works in and provided this tower with a rich cultural background.
But the milestone that YueYang Tower¡¯s name became known to the world was in the North Song Dynasty, when Teng ZiJing reconstructed the tower and Fan ZhongYan composed the Records of YueYang Tower. Teng ZiJing was a talented officer with foresight, he believed that "A tower does not last long without the written records, the records do not last long if they are not from masters." So he invited the current great writer Fan ZhongYan to compose a record for the architecture, then we have the Records of YueYang Tower. This article was widely acknowledged immediately. Although the words are only 369, but it contains intensive philosophy. The boundless imagination and beautiful words contribute to a peak of poetic perfection. In particular, the line of verse ¡°Worry before the world start to worry, relax only after the world are relaxed.¡± has inspired and touched every generation of Chinese. Since then, YueYang Tower became known both at home and abroad. After Fan ZhongYan, YueYang Tower attracted the best writers and poets of different times to leave their words: Yu Ji, Yang WeiZhen, Yang Quan, Li DongYang, He JingMing, Yuan Mei and Yao Nai, etc.
Over YueYang Tower¡¯s more than 1,000 years of history, it was damaged and then reconstructed for many times. According to the records, the maintenance was at least 30. Every time after maintenance or reconstruction, ¡°People joined here like a big party¡¡±; and every damage or destruction would make ¡°the writers and poets shook their heads and signed, they were sad to see the mountainous waves flapped the base¡±. (according to the records of Qing Dynasty, Reconstruction Records of YueYang Tower, written by Zhang DeRong). Until the end of Republic of China, the tower was very dilapidated. ¡°With the Rooster¡¯s crow, the world became bright again.¡± The foundation of the People¡¯s Republic of China also brightened the YueYang Tower. The party and the government decided to perform a complete reconstruction to the tower. After this, the tower kept its original size and structure, and the artistic and historical elements were also well kept. The tower¡¯s granite base was raised for 30cm, which makes the tower and the two pavilions beyond it better-bedded. The floor tiles were changed to the grey bricks, the four nanmu columns are the old ones. The four stone piers inherited from Song Dynasty were still below the columns. The brick walls which were constructed in the year of 21 (the Republic of China) were transformed to the Ming and Qing Dynasty style ¨C the carved and gold-overlaid windows and doors. For the purpose of widening the vision in the 2nd floor, the corridor was expanded. In the tower hall there is the famous Records of YueYang Tower, which was written by Qing Dynasty¡¯s great calligrapher Zhang Zhao. It is composed of twelve rosewood plates. In the 3rd floor there is the handwriting of Mao Zedong ¨C On the YueYang Tower, a great poet Du Fu¡¯s work. On each floor the original wooden-craved pairs are remained, plus the later-carved works. In the 1st floor there is a long pair, which first line was ¡°Why is the tower so much treasured? Du ShaoLing had his great five-word poems, Fan XiWen touched us with only two words, Teng ZiJing reconstructed everything, Lu ChunYang was drunk here for three times. The masters have left with their works, how sad I am!¡± And the second line was ¡°Just look at these: The DongTing Lake connects XiaoXiang in the south, the Yangtze River brings the water from the Wu Gorge, the Baling Mountain invites breeze from the west, the YueYang City is close to the east border. All the landmarks have the significance, can you find out? ¡± On the 3rd floor there is a short pair which consists of only 8 words: ¡°The water and sky merge in one color, the culture and beauty combine in one tower¡±. The signature is ¡°Changgeng, Li Bai¡± (a great poet of Tang Dynasty). |
