Snow Peak Withered Tree Hut

Snow Peak Withered Tree Hut

Snow Peak Withered Tree Hut is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Fujian Province.

Snow Peak Withered Tree Hut

Located southeast of Snow Peak Temple in Minhou County, Fujian, it is said to be where Master Yicun stayed when he first came to the mountain. Inside the hut is a withered tree trunk, devoid of branches, standing 3.32 meters tall and measuring 7.13 meters in girth. Its interior has long since rotted into a hollow. The outer shell is about 7 centimeters thick, with a door-like opening on the southern side. The hollow space inside can hold more than ten people. The inner walls are inscribed with horizontally written characters read from left to right. The inscriptions are in regular script, with each character about 12 centimeters in size, reading: “In the year Yichou of the Tianyou era of the Tang Dynasty (corresponding to 905 AD), this hut and a pond were constructed, involving over five thousand man-days of labor under the patronage of Lord Wang, the Great King.” The calligraphy is vigorous and forceful, demonstrating a high level of artistic merit. The inscribed tree trunk has survived for over a thousand years, and is referred to by epigraphers as a “tree-hollow stele.” However, seven characters in the lower section of the inscription were scorched by fire a hundred years ago. Originally, there were over twenty inscriptions from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties on the inner and outer surfaces of the trunk, but very few remain today. The hut was built to protect the withered tree, and has undergone many changes over the generations.

Dahu Township: A township under the jurisdiction of Minhou County. Established as Dahu Commune in 1958 and reorganized as a township in 1984. It is located in the northern part of the county, 23.5 kilometers from the county seat. Covering an area of 327 square kilometers, it has a population of 31,000. The Fuzhou–Gutian Highway runs across the township. It administers 23 village committees: Dahu, Niankeng, Dachi, Lingtou, Liujin, Snow Peak, Dongyao, Lantian, Qiangping, Shangyuan, Chaping, Houyang, Shuangxi, Xintang, Bantou, Dongqian, Maqian, Ruoyang, Daping, Yangshan, Xianshan, Zhenshan, and Houjing. The main agricultural products are rice and tea. Provincial-level cultural heritage sites include structures built in the 11th year of the Xiantong era of the Tang Dynasty (8... More detailed information about Dahu Township++