Yueyang Tower
Yueyang Tower | |
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岳阳楼 | |
![]() Picture of Yueyang Tower | |
General information | |
Type | Tower |
Location | Yueyang, Hunan |
Country | China |
Coordinates | 29°23′05″N 113°05′18″E / 29.384723°N 113.088262°E |
Opened | 1950 |
Renovated | 1950 |
Height | 19.42 metres (63.7 ft) |
Technical details | |
Material | Brick and wood |
Floor area | 39,000 square metres (420,000 sq ft) |
Known for | Memorial to Yueyang Tower by Fan Zhongyan |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/XiaYong-YueYangLou.jpg/220px-XiaYong-YueYangLou.jpg)
Yueyang Tower (
Located on the city wall of the west gate of the ancient city in Yueyang city, Hunan province, China, Yueyang Tower faces Junshan Island and overlooks Dongting Lake, being exquisite and imposing. Since ancient times, it has enjoyed the good reputation that Dongting Lake is the best among lakes, and Yueyang Tower is incomparable among towers. Yueyang Tower with yellow tiles and overhanging eaves set the green forest off (黄瓦飞檐). Its roof covered with yellow glazed tiles (黄色琉璃瓦) has a smooth curve, precipitous yet warped, just like a general's helmet in ancient China. It is the only ancient building with a helmet roof structure in China.[1][2]
History
Legend has it that this helmet roof was specially designed to commemorate a general of the Three Kingdoms period (220–280): Lu Su, the famous general of Eastern Wu (222–280).[2]
In the 13th year of the Jian'an period of the
The allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei launched fire attacks on 800,000 soldiers of the troops of Cao Cao, in the red cliff (today's Chibi city, Hubei province), thus forming the tripartite confrontation of Cao Wei (220–265), Shu Han (221–263), and Eastern Wu (222–280) from then on. Later, Sun Quan of Eastern Wu dispatched Lu Su to lead troops to defend Baqiu (巴丘; today's Yueyang), so as to scramble for Jingzhou with Liu Bei. Lu Su built Yuejun Tower (阅军楼) on the top of the city wall by Dongting Lake, to train and review the navy. Yuejun Tower was the former Yueyang Tower. Under the Yueyang Gate, and by Dongting Lake, was the site of the Call-officers-roll Platform (点将台), where Lu Su reviewed the navy of Eastern Wu at that time.[2]
Before the Tang dynasty (618–907), Yueyang Tower was mainly used for the military. After the Tang dynasty, it gradually became a famous scenic spot where men of letters chanted poetry and composed fu.
Li Bai, a poet of the Tang dynasty, drank against the wind and wrote: "The water and the sky merge in one color, and the wonders of natural beauty and boundless" (水天一色,风月无边). Du Fu, another poet of the Tang dynasty, ascended Yueyang Tower while ill and wrote the verse, famous through the ages, that "I heard of Dongting Lake before, and now I ascend Yueyang Tower" (昔闻洞庭水,今上岳阳楼).[3] The verses "the waters around Dongting Lake are covered by steam, and the rolling waves shock Yueyang city" (气蒸云梦泽,波撼岳阳城) by Meng Haoran and "the vast waters cover an area of 500,000 metres (1,600,000 ft),[4] and layer upon layer of mountains are as tall as 100 floors" (江国逾千里,山城仅百层) by Du Fu in the Tang dynasty, describe this place. However, it was
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Wooden_screen_of_Memorial_to_Yueyang_Tower%2C_written_by_calligrapher_Zhang_Zhao.jpg/220px-Wooden_screen_of_Memorial_to_Yueyang_Tower%2C_written_by_calligrapher_Zhang_Zhao.jpg)
Yueyang Tower is famous for Memorial to Yueyang Tower (《岳阳楼记》) written by Fan Zhongyan. Many calligraphers have reproduced Memorial to Yueyang Tower. Works by Su Shunqin, the ci poet and calligrapher of the Northern Song dynasty, are the most famous. The famed engraver Shao Song (邵竦), engraved the work on a wooden screen, but it was lost.[2] During the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Huang Ningdao (黄凝道), magistrate of Yueyang, decided to have a wooden screen of Memorial to Yueyang Tower engraved again. Just when Huang Ningdao tried hard to find a proper person to reproduce Memorial to Yueyang Tower, the calligrapher Zhang Zhao (张照), minister of the Ministry of Justice, was escorting army provisions in transportation via Yueyang. Huang Ningdao invited Zhang Zhao to re-engrave it. In the beginning, Zhang Zhao introduced Teng Zijing's recent situation and Yueyang Tower in formal regular script (正楷); he wrote in semi-cursive script (行书) to describe landscape in the middle part; and he wrote in the style between semi-cursive script and regular script (行楷) in the last part. Later, Huang Ningdao selected 12 pieces of best-quality rosewood for the screen and asked a carpenter to engrave Memorial to Yueyang Tower written by Zhang Zhao on the screen. Now, the engraved screen is inlaid in the hall of the second floor of Yueyang Tower.
Architecture
According to the record in Baling County Annals (《巴陵县志》), its name is Yueyang, and it was first built in the
The current Yueyang Tower is of pure wood structure. The main tower is 19.42 metres (63.7 ft) with three layers of overhanging eaves (三层飞檐). Four nanmu hypostyle columns in the tower go straight to the roof of the tower. To commemorate Lu Su, the famous general of Eastern Wu, the roof of Yueyang Tower is designed into a helmet roof held by a ruyi bracket system (如意斗拱盔顶式). The ruyi bracket system under a helmet roof is in the shape of a honeycomb, being dainty and exquisite. Three layers of overhanging eaves set off the helmet roof, looking like a roc spreading its wings, and flying up.[1]
This roof structure in the shape of the general's helmet in ancient times is unique in ancient Chinese architectural history. The helmet roof adds a heroic spirit to the elegant and graceful Yueyang Tower, and manifests the majestic and exquisite Yueyang Tower.[5]
Literature
Like the other two great towers of Jiangnan, Yueyang Tower is famous partly due to its literary associations. These include the piece
Gallery
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The Yueyang Tower by Li Sheng (fl. 908–925),Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
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The Yueyang tower during the Yuan dynasty
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The Yueyang tower during the Ming dynasty
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Japanese depiction of the Yueyang tower in the 18th century
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The Yueyang tower in 1804
References
- ^ ISBN 978-7-303-14646-8.
- ^ a b c d e f Wei Ming (2013), p. 43.
- ISBN 7-80648-422-1.
- ISBN 7-107-14847-8.
- ^ a b Wei Ming (2013), p. 45.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
Bibliography
- Wei Ming (2013). "Dongting Lake". Famous Lakes in China (in English and Chinese). Huangshan, Anhui: Huangshan Publishing House. ISBN 978-7-5461-2500-8.
- Du Guichi (2008). 《湖湘文库:巴陵县志》 [Baling County Annals] (in Chinese). ISBN 9787807610434.