Qianla Mountain Beacon Tower

Qianla Mountain Beacon Tower

The Qianla Mountain Beacon Tower is a cultural heritage site protected by Yingkou City.

The Qianla Mountain Beacon Tower is located to the south of Qianla Mountain Village in Jinqiao Town, Dashiqiao City, built atop Lala Mountain at an elevation of 22 meters.

Lala Mountain is a gently sloped small hill, surrounded by flat loess plains, making the beacon tower highly visible from afar—an ideal location for its construction. The tower is largely well-preserved and serves as a reference for other beacons of the same era in our city. Based on its structure, features, and building materials, it is comprehensively analyzed to have been built during the Ming Dynasty. The base is constructed of granite slabs, topped with large blue bricks forming the body, sealed with white lime, and the crenellated top section is still visible. This square tower stands 12 meters tall with a base side length of 10 meters, tapering inward gradually from the bottom up.

Beacon towers are spread throughout our city, with their ruins still traceable today. The overall layout consists of two major systems: one follows the coastline from north to south, forming a military defense system akin to a “border wall without walls” across the Liaodong Peninsula. These beacons run along the coast from north to south and connect with inland coastal beacon towers, forming an important part of China’s nationwide beacon network. In our region, they are situated from south to north as follows: SanTAizi in Guizhou Township, Gaizhou City; Xianren Island in Xiongyue; Duntaishan in Bayuquan District; Wanghaizhai in Shagangzi; Xiwai Zi in Tuanshan Township; Gaotaimiao in Ergou Village, Laobian District; within the urban area (Liangfangkou Dun); and Shangjuntai in Shuiyuan Township, Dashiqiao City. Additionally, numerous inland beacon towers are densely distributed across Gaizhou and Dashiqiao, radiating inland and strategically positioned around military routes and key populated towns. Qianla Mountain is one such inland beacon tower.

Beacon towers located at the frontier typically served as signal-raising towers. When threats arose, inland beacon towers functioned as relay towers, passing the signals from the signal-raising towers from one to the next. In our region, signal-raising towers were generally built along the coast—such as those on Xianren Island, Duntaishan, and Xiwai Zi—which will be introduced later in this book. Relay towers were more numerous and situated on inland high hills and mountainous areas.

The smoke signals of the beacon towers have long dissipated, and the once-dotted watchtowers have become few and far between. The surviving beacons have now been designated as cultural heritage sites. Gazing up at their tall, upright structures silently standing, they recount the glory of the past to future generations...

In 1984, the Yingkou Municipal People's Government (Ying Zheng Fa [1984] No. 108) declared the Qianla Mountain Beacon Tower a municipal-level cultural heritage site. The cultural heritage protection boundaries and construction control zones announced by the Yingkou Municipal People's Government (Ying Zheng Fa [1990] No. 38) are as follows: a 20-meter radius around the beacon tower is the protected area, and an additional 80-meter extension beyond the protected area constitutes a Class V construction control zone.

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