Changqing Temple Pagoda

Changqing Temple Pagoda

Changqing Temple Pagoda is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Located on Xiyu Mountain by the south bank of the Lan River west of She County, this site originally had 10 temples, one of which was Changqing Temple where a pagoda was built in 1119, hence the name Changqing Temple Pagoda. The temple has long been gone, but the pagoda remains. It has been repaired throughout various dynasties.

Introduction

Changqing Temple Pagoda (also known as Ten Temples Pagoda) was generously donated and built in the second year of the Chonghe era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1119) by Zhang Yingzhou from Huangbei in She County, and is nearly 900 years old.

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Changqing Temple Pagoda is a solid seven-story square pagoda with dense eaves, built with brick and stone. Its plan is nearly square, with each side of the ground floor measuring 5.28 meters and a total height of 23.1 meters. The base is a platform-style foundation, constructed with five layers of square Sumeru pedestals made of stone, with a waist height of 66 cm, featuring intermediate and corner pillars. The body is a seven-story solid brick structure, with the first story being relatively tall, and the height of each successive story decreasing gradually toward the top, with flying eaves extending outward on each level. The ground floor features a wooden corridor, with 4.33-meter-wide stone eave-pillars, and the pagoda has arched gateways on all four sides, with lotus petal stone Buddha pedestals inside. On the second floor and above, each wall features hidden window arches made of blue bricks, with half-hidden, half-visible square imitation wooden pillars at each corner resembling dougong brackets. The pagoda walls are coated with lime, adorned with vividly colored Buddhist paintings. Each layer's eaves are built up using layered blue bricks, interspersed with five layers of offset toothed bricks, atop which are wooden eaves, cylindrical tiles, and flat tiles. The roof is crowned with a bronze gourd-shaped finial, topped with a pointed spire. Beneath each flying eave and corner, there hangs an iron wind chime, which rings melodiously in the breeze, spreading the sounds of Buddhism far and wide. The pagoda stands by the mountain and water, casting a delicate reflection in the Lan River. Graceful and elegant, it was praised by Du Mu of the Tang Dynasty: “The high chimes sound several times, shaking the jade in autumn; the clear river stretches a thousand miles, gleaming with silver at dawn.” Another poem reads: “The ancient temple towers high, touching the azure sky; the spring breeze carries chants throughout the day. The square stone pagoda reaches the heavens, while the willows on the long dike lie far across the shore. Two perilous peaks compete to rise from the vale, a winding path halfway leads to a bridge. At times, clear sounds drift in from beyond the railing—know that it’s the woodcutters singing from the southern hills at dusk.”

Changqing Temple Pagoda is the only remaining structure among the original Thirty-Four Branch Temples of the Ten Temples on West Dry Mountain. Having undergone repairs across several dynasties, it still retains characteristics of the Song Dynasty. It is now listed as a provincial-level protected cultural relic and has been incorporated into the restoration and reconstruction plan of the “Taiping Xingguo Temple,” becoming a local landmark.

Protected area: Beyond the pagoda base, to the east up to the Lan River, 7 meters to the south, 10 meters to the west up to the east wall of the County Resin Factory, and 7 meters to the north up to the uphill stone steps.

Construction control zone: Beyond the protected area, to the west up to the foot of West Dry Mountain, 500 meters to the south and north respectively, and the same as the protected area to the east.

Address: Xinjian South Road, Yuecheng District, Shaoxing City (south end of Tazi Bridge)

Type: Temple

Recommended visiting time: 0.5–1 hour

Phone: 0575-85140239

Ticket information:

Free entry.

Further reading:

· Seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units