Baoqi Pavilion

Baoqi Pavilion

Baoqi Pavilion is situated on the riverside in the northwest of the urban area. It was constructed to commemorate the legendary tale of the "celestial sword aura" of Fengcheng that "reached the heavens." In the fourth year of the Yuanyou era (1081) during the Song Dynasty, the famous poet Huang Tingjian, while traveling from Fening to Taihe, passed through Fengcheng and composed the poem "Baoqi Pavilion": "The town of Fengcheng stands majestically, home to sixty thousand households by the waters. Stone dikes sleep like rainbows, as I pause my boat while the sun sinks into the mist. The local official’s governance has gained praise, the new pavilion invites guests to stroll. Tears fall upon the stele of my late father, my heart is moved by Wenrao’s writings. I recall the two divine swords, buried in the prison yet longing for the armory. Their cold gleam shoots toward the Han River ford, as two sages cast a single glance. Magistrate Zhang at Qizhong Platform, trees arch over Kongzhang’s tomb. Unable to treat it as child’s play, as year’s end sends dragons and snakes away. All that remains is a pool of cold spring water, where frogs grow long legs after the rain. A lead blade lies hidden in the treasure chamber, for all time bound by the same fate." The object of this poetic tribute is none other than this pavilion.

After the county seat was relocated to its current location in the second year of the Yonghui era of the Tang Dynasty (651), dikes were built to protect the town. The "Fengcheng County Annals · Rivers" from the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty records: "During the Yonghui era of the Tang Dynasty, the county seat was first moved here, and dikes were constructed from Zhangjia Port to Baoqi Pavilion and Yangling Temple, stretching over forty li." On the eleventh day of the intercalary first month in the ninth year of the Qiandao era (1173) of the Song Dynasty, the famous poet Fan Chengda passed through Fengcheng. In his work "Canluan Lu," he wrote: "Passing through Fengcheng County, I briefly moored at Baoqi Pavilion." This shows that Baoqi Pavilion, the most significant scenic site by the river, was a must-visit place for literati and travelers alike. The pavilion originally housed a stone stele inscribed with the "Sword Pond Rhapsody and Preface" written by Li Deyu (courtesy name Wenrao), the Tang Dynasty chancellor, during the summer of the first year of the Kaicheng era (836) when he was demoted southward and passed through Fengcheng, as well as the dike record by Huang Xiang (courtesy name Shifu) after the completion of the new dike in the eighth year of the TianSheng era (1030) of the Song Dynasty — these are the very "tears falling upon Shifu’s stele, my heart moved by Wenrao’s rhapsody" mentioned in Huang Tingjian’s poem. In the sixteenth year of the Jiading era (1223) of the Southern Song Dynasty, Baoqi Pavilion was burned down due to a fire caused by residents. It was soon rebuilt by the county magistrate Tang Rong "on the old site, with renewed construction; within a few months, the pavilion took shape, grand, splendid, and magnificent in scale." Jing Lugian also wrote the "Record of Baoqi Pavilion," which complements the "Fengcheng Sword Rhapsody" written by the poet Lu You during his time in Fengcheng. The "Record of Baoqi Pavilion" states: "Baoqi Pavilion uniquely stands at the county’s ferry, serving as a place of admiration and longing, truly representing the finest scenery of the entire district."

During the Yuandynasty's Zhiyuan era (1264–1294), Baoqi Pavilion was reconstructed into the Jianjiang Post Tower, becoming a structure that combined both a post station and a commemorative site. In the Dade era (1297–1307), Liu Bingyi, the prefect of Fuzhou (when Fengcheng was elevated to a prefecture), renovated Baoqi Pavilion and officially named it the Jianjiang Post Tower. Many notable figures visited the tower, such as the Yuan Dynasty scholar Wu Cheng, who wrote in his poem "Jianjiang Post Tower": "In life, how many post stations lie north and south — when we pass each other, how can we not be moved?" These became places where poets lamented the past and reflected on the present. After the Ming Dynasty, Baoqi Pavilion was further expanded on its original foundation, eventually separating from the Jianjiang Post. In the eleventh year of the Wanli era (1583), Tao Yishi (courtesy name Shian), acting as county magistrate, built Baolou on the city wall above Wenming Gate, serving as a place for lectures. At the time, many renowned poets in Fengcheng enjoyed gathering at Baolou to compose poetry together. The "Jianjiang Poetic Responses Collection" from the Wanli era alone contains 15 poems from elegant gatherings at Baolou by poets such as Xu Jideng, Lei Ying, and Qiu Shiyi. There, they admired scenes like “wild geese across flat sands sketching bare trees, green forests leaning against slanting sunlight on myriad hills,” or chanted lines like “a rustic boat skims the vast waters, plains and thickets asked in lush green.” By the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong era, Baoqi Pavilion still had three halls, corridors, a drum tower with three rooms, and three rooms for officials to the left of the main hall, with a plaque hanging above the tower inscribed “Baoqi Fills the Ferry.” By the late Qing Dynasty, Baoqi Pavilion gradually fell into disrepair due to war and fire. As seen in the poems "Visiting Baoqi Pavilion" and "Musing on Baoqi Pavilion" by poets such as Tang Zhongyu and Lu Ruzhao, one can still find poignant verses like “pointing to the setting sun atop the tower, lingering at the ancient post junction.”