Tieling Zhubi Pagoda

Tieling Zhubi Pagoda

Zhubi Pagoda is located on Longwei Mountain in Tieling. During the Qing Dynasty, Longwei Mountain was called Zhubi Mountain, hence the pagoda also bears this name. This pagoda is of the same type as Xiufeng Pagoda on Longshou Mountain, featuring an octagonal, nine-tiered dense-eave structure built from blue bricks, though it is smaller in scale. The two pagodas stand on Longshou and Longwei mountains respectively, facing each other from afar, and with a star bridge soaring across the mountainside and winding paths connecting elegant pavilions, they add much charm to the beauty of Longshan Mountain. The exact year of the pagoda’s construction is unknown, and no records about Zhubi Pagoda could be found in various local historical materials.

Initially, based on its name, people speculated that the pagoda was built after the early Qing Dynasty. The 1683 *Tieling County Annals* included a map showing a small pagoda at Longwei Mountain. According to the 1677 *County Annals*, Zhubi Mountain was originally called Shuikou Mountain. In 1671, during his eastern tour, the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was returning to Beijing from Chuanchang (now Jilin City) when he encountered heavy rain near Shuikou Mountain in Tieling. At the time, a newly built house belonging to a local resident named Ma Wentong provided shelter. In ancient times, the place where an emperor stayed was called "zhubi" (imperial halt), and thus Shuikou Mountain was renamed Zhubi Mountain. Aside from the *County Annals*, no other records about this pagoda exist, leaving its construction date a mystery.

In 2000, a breakthrough emerged in solving the mystery of Zhubi Pagoda’s construction date. That year, due to the pagoda’s severe tilt and imminent risk of collapse, with approval from provincial cultural heritage authorities, a "dismantling and full restoration" project was carried out in April 2000, involving complete disassembly and reconstruction. During the dismantling, many misconceptions about the pagoda were corrected. For example, it was previously believed to be an "octagonal, nine-tiered solid dense-eave structure," but it was actually an octagonal, nine-tiered hollow dense-eave pagoda. It was also thought to have been built in the late Ming or early Qing Dynasty, but a bronze plaque inscribed with the *Record of Pagoda Repair by Liaodong Regional Commander Li Chengliang in the Wanli Era of the Ming Dynasty* was found inside a stone disc, along with records of previous repairs. Furthermore, while it was long assumed the pagoda had always been called Zhubi Pagoda, unearthed artifacts revealed its original name was Lingying Temple Pagoda, and there was likely a Lingying Temple nearby. Based on these findings, the pagoda was built no later than the Jingtai era of the Ming Dynasty (1450), and may have originated in the late Yuan or early Ming Dynasty. On September 2, 2000, the *Tieling Daily* weekend special edition reported on the restoration under the title *"Ancient Zhubi Pagoda on Longshan Mountain Poised to Reveal Its New Look in October,"* providing further insight into this historic pagoda and resolving many longstanding mysteries.