Licheng Bao'en Temple Pagoda

Licheng Bao'en Temple Pagoda

Licheng Bao'en Temple Pagoda is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Dongyan Mountain Stone Pagoda (Bao'en Pagoda) is located within Bao'en Temple on Dongyan Mountain, Yinglong Neighborhood Committee, Zhenhai Subdistrict, Licheng District. According to the Qianlong-era county annals, the pagoda was built during the Shaosheng era (1094–1098) of Emperor Zhezong of the Song Dynasty; while the Lin family genealogy records that it was constructed in the first year of the Kaihuang era (581) of the Sui Dynasty. A line in the Qing scholar Song Jichun’s poem “The Kaihuang Pagoda of Linshan,” which reads “There are Kaihuang bricks above,” confirms that the Tang Dynasty predecessor to this Song stone pagoda was a brick pagoda. This three-story, octagonal pavilion-style stone pagoda covers an area of 387 square meters, with each side measuring 4.40 meters. The Sumeru pedestal is 1.20 meters high, and the total height of the pagoda body is approximately 13 meters. The upper and lower sections of the Sumeru pedestal feature relief carvings of upward-facing and downward-facing lotus petals, respectively, while the waist of the pedestal is carved with 37 lions in various dynamic poses. Each level of the pagoda body features corbelled eaves. Each story has arched gateways on all four sides, and the doorway on the first floor is flanked by shallow niches containing relief carvings of Vajra warriors with bold, powerful lines. Inside the ground floor chamber, a stone staircase is embedded in the wall leading up to the second floor. The ceiling of the chamber is designed in a caisson style, and the finial spire at the top of the pagoda is secured to the corner eaves by eight iron chains. A stone Buddhist statue used to subdue the pagoda is placed on the octagonal ridge of each level. The Dongyan Mountain Stone Pagoda (Bao'en Pagoda) was designated as a Fujian Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 1996.

On October 7, 2019, Licheng Bao'en Temple Pagoda was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Yinglong Community: Yinglong Community belongs to Zhenhai Subdistrict, Licheng District. It is located in the northern part of Zhenhai Subdistrict, about 1.5 kilometers from the Zhenhai Subdistrict Office. The community takes one character each from the former Yinghui and Longpo communities to form its name. It borders Fuzhou–Xiamen Highway to the east, faces Fengshan Community and Changshou Community across Meiyuan East Road to the south, neighbors Meifeng Community to the west, and adjoins Gongchen Subdistrict of Chengxiang District to the north. The entire community covers an area of 0.7 square kilometers, with 3,500 households and a population of 11,000, divided into 11 resident groups. Yinglong Community is home to well-known schools such as Linfeng Primary School and Putian No. 4 Middle School, the Huang Tao Ancestral Hall built in memory of Huang Tao, and a national-level cultural... More details about Yinglong Community++

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units