Xiejia Tower

Xiejia Tower

Xiejia Tower is a cultural heritage protection unit of Yanzhou District.

Xiejia Tower is located in Houxie Village, Caohé Town, Yanzhou District. Built during the Ming Dynasty, it is now privately owned by villagers. The tower faces south and is a two-story pavilion with a brick-and-wood structure. It spans three bays with a width of 9.7 meters, a depth of 4.6 meters, and covers an area of 44.62 square meters. The roof is a flush-gable style covered with tubular tiles, featuring mythical beast ornaments at both ends of the main ridge and one vertical beast at the center of each of the four hip ridges, all uniformly shaped like dragons. The first floor has a arched door flanked by stone windows carved with the “swastika” (卍) motif. The second floor has eight windows—three on the front and back walls and one on each side wall—all arched. The main structure remains largely original. This discovery holds significant value for studying the architectural style and cultural history of Ming Dynasty residences. In October 2009, it was approved and announced as part of the third batch of Yanzhou Municipal Cultural Heritage Protection Units by the Yanzhou Municipal People's Government.

The existing tower from the Ming Dynasty, once part of the Lu Prefecture’s Princess Mansion, is the very building where the princess resided. The tower faces south and is a single-eave, flush-gable style structure with six rooms over two stories, constructed from a combination of brick, stone, earth, and wood. As a pavilion-style building, it measures 9.8 meters in length, 4.6 meters in width, and stands approximately 9 meters tall from ground to roof ridge, covering a floor area of 45 square meters. The first-floor walls are 70 centimeters thick, while those on the second floor are about 50 centimeters thick, with interior walls tapering slightly with each level. The arched door and window lintels, as well as the eaves, feature brick carvings, and the drip tiles and roof tiles are adorned with dragon motifs. Behind the first-floor door is a thick wooden door bolt, with bolt stones embedded into the walls on either side, providing strong defensive features. On the west side of the first-floor door are two stone-carved swastika (卍) windows, round inside and square outside, symbolizing good fortune and peace. The second floor has circular wooden windows on all four sides, ensuring ample lighting and ventilation. The wooden staircase and flooring are well-preserved. At the four corners, the rotating shafts are each engraved with a single character that together form the phrase “Man Tang Pu Yu” (满堂蒲玉), meaning “A Hall Full of Precious Jade.” This is the best-preserved and most intact Ming Dynasty building still standing today, with over 300 years of history. Due to long-term disrepair, the structure is now at risk of collapse.

Caohé Town: Located in the northwest of Yanzhou District, Caohé Town has a long history and is the hometown of Lady Luo Fu. It is also said to be the place where Cao Guojiu, one of the Eight Immortals in Chinese mythology, cultivated immortality. Covering an area of 47.4 square kilometers with 49,000 mu (approximately 3,266 hectares) of arable land, the town administers 31 administrative villages and has a total population of 32,000. In 2002, the local fiscal revenue reached 5.86 million yuan, a 16% increase from the previous year; the gross domestic product hit 520 million yuan, up 10%; fixed asset investment amounted to 92.8 million yuan, a 16% rise; and the per capita net income of farmers was 3,560 yuan, an increase of 6%.

Caohé is situated in the plains of southwestern Shandong... More detailed information about Caohé Town ++