Jinhua Mingyue Tower

Jinhua Mingyue Tower

Jinhua Mingyue Tower is a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

Jinhua Mingyue Tower is located in Wucheng District, Jinhua City, and dates back to the Qing Dynasty.

Mingyue Tower is situated on the west side of Mingyue Road in the urban area of Jinhua. Its original location was on the northeastern building of Chisong Gate (also called Meihua Gate) in Jinhua. During the Xuanhe period of the Song Dynasty, inspired by Yan Wei’s line “Bright moon over twin streams, refreshing breeze at Bayong Tower,” both Mingyue and Bayong towers were constructed. Bayong Tower has since been lost. In the early years of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, it was moved and rebuilt on the city wall behind the Chenghuang Temple in the northern part of the city. A verse by Song Dynasty’s Lin Gongdu reads: “The ancient moon before Lotus Peak, night after night shining upon the stream.” Wang Bai wrote: “The Xuanhe structure guarded the eastern city, over the open plains offering a bright, sweeping view.” The existing structure was reconstructed in the 15th year of the Guangxu reign (1889) by Magistrate Cao Licheng. Mingyue Tower has a rectangular floor plan, a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof, stone pillars, and a wooden structure, with Qing Dynasty calligrapher Wu Tingkang’s stone inscriptions on the columns. The tower is situated at a relatively high elevation and was built atop a city gate; as most buildings in old Jinhua were low-rise, visitors could once overlook the entire city from the tower. For this reason, Mingyue Tower has also been a popular destination for literati throughout the dynasties who visited and composed poetry here.

On January 13, 2017, it was announced by the People's Government of Zhejiang Province as part of the seventh batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units.

Further reading:

· Seventh Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units