Laoye Pavilion on Baoquan Mountain

Laoye Pavilion on Baoquan Mountain

Laoye Pavilion on Baoquan Mountain is a cultural relic protection unit of Yingkou City.

Laoye Pavilion on Baoquan Mountain is located on Baoquan Mountain in Zhenghuangqi Village, Jiulongdi Town, Gaizhou City, atop the mountain peak at an elevation of 82 meters.

The pavilion is a square, four-pillared, hip-and-gable granite structure with a four-cornered spire, standing two stories tall at a total height of 10.52 meters. It consists of four parts: the base, the first floor, the second floor, and the finial pole. The base has sides measuring 530 meters, and four octagonal stone pillars stand on the platform foundation, upon which the entire structure rests. Each of the four sides of the base has four stone steps leading up to the platform. The first floor features a sloped roof without tile ridges, with cement plastered slopes on stone slabs. The four corners have dragon head ridge ornaments slightly raised, from which hang sparrow-scaring bells (only the rings remain). The second floor has four octagonal pillars resting on stone beams. The inner sides of the pillars are carved with grooves to support the lintel, which in turn supports intersecting stone beams. Above the beams are auxiliary beams, and at the center of these beams lies a transverse stone that also connects the four corners of a square-shaped auxiliary beam. This supports four semi-circular bracket columns, which hold up the principal rafters and the stone slab roof. The second floor pavilion is enclosed by an 89-centimeter-high stone slab wall on all four sides. The front has a stone door, 94 centimeters wide, with stone slabs 16.5 centimeters high and door pillars 116 centimeters high. On the north side, there is a stone plaque, 184 centimeters high and 107 centimeters wide, with the bold characters “Seat of the Divine Lord Guan” engraved in intaglio in regular script in the center, and the inscriptions “General Guan Ping” and “General Zhou Cang” on the sides. The second-floor roof and eaves are the same as those on the first floor. The first-floor caisson ceiling is square-shaped, topped with stone slabs that form the second-floor flooring. The upper caisson is a four-square “work” character shape, with a flat square stone slab at the top. On this slab sits a lotus base supporting a gourd-shaped finial pole. Sparrow-scaring bells hang under the corner ridges (only the rings remain).

The architecture of Laoye Pavilion on Baoquan Mountain, from its overall structure to each individual component, fully utilizes combinations of stone frameworks. Through meticulous design and the skilled artistic craftsmanship of stonemasons, it achieves a unified integration of architectural function, structure, and artistry, recreating the perfection of ancient architecture from the Republican era. It is well preserved.

In 1983, Laoye Pavilion on Baoquan Mountain was designated as a county-level cultural relic protection unit. In 2012, the Yingkou Municipal People’s Government (Yingzheng [2012] No. 173) announced it as a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit. The cultural relic protection scope and construction control zone designated by the Yingkou Municipal People’s Government (Yingzheng [2013] No. 185) are as follows: with the projection line of the Laoye Pavilion on Baoquan Mountain building as the base point, an area extending 15 meters outward in all four directions is designated as the protection zone. An area extending 50 meters outward to the east, west, south, and north beyond the protection zone is designated as a Class I construction control zone.

Source: Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, News, and Broadcasting   Contributor: Dong Wenjie