The Thousand Brick Pavilion

The Thousand Brick Pavilion

The Thousand Brick Pavilion is a Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Thousand Brick Pavilion (including the ? Song Tower) (Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit)

Era: Qing Dynasty

Announcement Date: August 29, 1997

The Thousand Brick Pavilion is located on Yuehe Street near East Gate in Huzhou city proper. It was the residence of Lu Xinyuan, a renowned scholar of the Qing Dynasty, and got its name from the collection of ancient bricks from the Han and Jin dynasties stored there.

Lu Xinyuan<1834—1894)，字刚文，号存斋，又号潜园老人，湖州人。以藏书之富名冠两浙，与杭州八千卷楼丁氏、山东聊城海源阁杨氏、常熟铁琴铜剑楼瞿氏，并称海内四大藏书家。所撰辑《潜园总集》940卷，有很高的学术价值。千甓亭建于光绪七年(1881)，著名学者杨岘隶书题额。

The Thousand Brick Pavilion is built in a corner to the left inside the main gate, shaped like a folding fan with upturned eaves. In front of the pavilion is a small pond with a bridge across it. There is a square hall in the courtyard, and behind it are three rooms forming a building known as the ? Song Tower, which served as Lu’s library. On the left wall downstairs are embedded stone carvings, including 21 calligraphic stone inscriptions by Wen Tianxiang, Zhao Mengfu, and others. The pavilion houses a collection of a thousand bricks, all excavated from ancient tombs in counties such as Wuxing, Changxing, and Wukang. The bricks feature unique patterns and unusual inscriptions, especially those bearing ancient chronologies, geography, official systems, and surnames. Lu compiled rubbings of the brick inscriptions and decorations, and after research, produced the Six Volumes of Thousand Brick Pavilion Brick Record, Four Volumes of Continuation, and Twenty Volumes of Illustrative Commentary on Ancient Bricks from the Thousand Brick Pavilion. Because the texts “relay ancient events and verify variant characters,” they were highly valued by Qing scholars, who believed they held significant research value for history, calligraphy, and seal engraving. Many of the ancient bricks were lost during the War of Resistance. After liberation, Lu’s descendants donated all remaining bricks to the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. The Huzhou Museum preserves 400 pages of brick rubbings. The Thousand Brick Pavilion still stands today.

Source: Zhejiang Cultural Relics Website

Lu Xinyuan (1834–1894), courtesy name Gangfu, also known as Cunzhai, and in his later years as the Old Man of Qianyuan, was a native of Yuehe Street, Gu’an (now Yuehe Street, Huzhou). Gifted with remarkable intelligence, he could read several lines at a glance and had an eidetic memory. He was proficient in the Nine Classics, especially the studies of Zheng and Xu. He studied under famous Confucian scholars Wan Qingli, Wu Shifang, and Zhang Xigeng. He often engaged in academic discussions with fellow townsmen Yao Zongkan, Dai Wang, Shi Buhua, Yu Jinsu, Wang Zhulü, and Ling Xia, and was known as one of the “Seven Talents of Tiaoshang.” In the ninth year of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty (1859), he passed the provincial examination and was appointed as a prefectural-level official in Guangdong. He accompanied General Liu Changyou to Zhili to suppress the Taiping Rebellion, serving under Liu… Detailed information on Lu Xinyuan++

Yuehe Subdistrict: Yuehe Subdistrict Office is located in the central-southern part of Wuxing District. The area includes the famous Lotus Villa Park and the newly built ? Stream Park. The jurisdiction extends west to Camel Bridge, east to Sanli Bridge, south to National Highway 318, and north to Tiaoxi Road, covering an area of approximately 3.6 square kilometers. It has over 16,000 households and a resident population of nearly 50,000. This includes 18,887 Party members, 11 Party general branches, 64 Party branches, and 62 administrative and public institutions. The subdistrict governs Yuehe, Nanyuan, Majunxiang, Jishan No.1, Jishan No.2, Erliqiao, Sanliqiao, Wenyuan, Fuxingqiao, Huzhou… Detailed information on Yuehe Subdistrict++

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units