Yaji Pavilion

Yaji Pavilion

Yaji Pavilion is a cultural tourism attraction.

Located on the northwest foothills north of Jiaowei Pavilion, the pavilion faces south and is constructed from granite in the hip-and-gable roof style, forming a square shape. It is a single-bay structure 3 meters wide and 5 meters tall. The original stele has been destroyed, though the city museum houses some rubbings.

Jiaowei Pavilion was built during the Hongzhi era of the Ming Dynasty by then-county magistrate Yang Ziqi. In the 17th year of Hongzhi (1504), his successor Magistrate Ji Zongdao, together with 19 notable individuals from Wumen and the local gentry including Yang Xunji, arranged to gather at the pavilion for poetry and wine. Ji Zongdao composed the “Record of the Yushan Yaji Pavilion Gathering,” Shen Zhou painted the “Yushan Yaji Gathering Painting,” and the collected poems and writings were engraved on stone and inlaid into the pavilion walls, marking a celebrated literary event of the time.

Later, the pavilion fell into ruin. In the 19th year of the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty (1814), Jiang Yinpei, a native and then-county magistrate of Tai’an County, oversaw its reconstruction. A stele inscribed with the “Poem and Preface on the Reconstruction of the Ming Dynasty’s Loyal and Heroic Jiang’s Yaji Pavilion” was created, authored by Wu Cihe of Wuxian County and calligraphed by Gu Chun. It identifies the pavilion as the site where Jiang Yinpei’s tenth-generation ancestor, the Ming Dynasty’s posthumously honored Guanglu Temple Minister Jiang Qin, and others including Ji Zongdao, gathered for poetry and wine. A stone plaque bearing the characters “Yaji Pavilion” in clerical script, written by Shi Yunyu, the top imperial scholar of Wuxian County, hangs inside the pavilion.

In the 22nd year of the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty (1817), Zhu Henian, a painter from Taizhou, redrew

the “Yaji Pavilion Painting,” which was then engraved on stone and placed in the pavilion. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the pavilion fell into ruin again and was rebuilt in 1985 with an investment of 17,000 yuan from the city’s garden management office.