Ten-Thousand Yuan Pagoda

Ten-Thousand Yuan Pagoda

Ten-Thousand Yuan Pagoda is a cultural heritage site protected at the district level in Fenghua.

Ten-Thousand Yuan Pagoda, located between two natural villages in Guofan Village, Jiangkou Subdistrict, Fenghua City, was designated as part of the third batch of municipal-level cultural heritage sites by the Fenghua Municipal People’s Government in February 1987.

Ten-Thousand Yuan Pagoda was named after being built in the first year of the Wanli era during the Ming Dynasty. It is a hexagonal seven-story brick-and-stone pagoda, standing 17.20 meters tall. The base is slightly raised, and the foundation is circular, topped with a hexagonal pedestal. The first story has a diameter of 4 meters and is 2.45 meters high, entirely constructed from strip stones, including the eaves, which are also stone-carved. The six stories above are made of bricks, with the eaves formed by stacked corbelled brick “diamond teeth,” and upturned corners designed like elephant trunks, all intricately carved in stone. Except for the first floor, each level features niches (known as “壶门” in Chinese), though their designs vary slightly. The spire at the top has been destroyed. On the southern niche of the second level, there is a stone plaque inscribed with the three characters “万元塔” (“Ten-Thousand Yuan Pagoda”), with an inscription below that reads “Built during the Wanli era, renovated in the 20th year of the Daoguang reign.” The northern niche contains a small stone tablet inscribed with “Renovated in the year of the bamboo continent, the Guiwei year of the Guangxu reign, through the fundraising efforts of Chunzhou.” Some of the pagoda bricks are inscribed with the text “Made by Wu Jiafeng.” In 1994, the city’s cultural relics protection management office carried out restoration work on the pagoda.

The pagoda stands atop a small earthen mound between the Guo and Fan family lands, surrounded by rice paddies and open green fields. With blue skies and white clouds overhead, the pagoda rises majestically in the middle of this pastoral landscape, exuding a unique charm.