Victory Pagoda

Victory Pagoda

Victory Pagoda is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Also known as the Treasure Image Pagoda, it is called the White Pagoda due to its white color. Originally located at the former site of Yellow Crane Tower, on the head of Yellow Crane Rock in front of the old site of Yellow Crane Tower at the western foot of Snake Hill in Wuchang, Wuhan,

In 1955, during the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, it was relocated to the western part of Snake Hill, next to the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway overpass. In 1984, it was moved to the entrance area of the west gate of Yellow Crane Tower Park. Located about 159 meters directly in front of Yellow Crane Tower and 433 meters west of Baiyun Pavilion, the pagoda stands 9.36 meters tall and has a base width of 5.68 meters. Constructed with an outer stone and inner brick method—primarily using stone with some bricks used inside the inner chamber—it is the oldest and most intact single structure preserved from the original Yellow Crane Tower architectural complex. In 1956, it was listed as a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the Hubei Provincial People's Committee.

Built in the third year of the Zhi Zheng era of the Yuan Dynasty (1343 AD), the pagoda was commissioned by Prince Kuanchuo Puhua of Weishun for enshrining Buddhist relics and housing Buddhist ritual objects. As a Lamaist pagoda, its silhouette closely resembles a lantern, and due to the legend that Zhuge Liang lit a lamp here to guide Guan Yu’s naval forces during the Three Kingdoms period, it was once mistakenly referred to as the "Kongming Lantern." Because the pagoda represents the five elements—earth, water, fire, wind, and space—it is also called the Five-Wheel Pagoda. It is sometimes referred to as the Mahabodhi Stupa. These names and its construction date are recorded in the Chenshi-authored Hubei General Gazetteer of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty, Hu Fengdan’s Huanghu Mountain Records and The Record of Inscriptions Sought Across the World from the Tongzhi reign, and other texts.

Originally, the pagoda was surrounded by a railing, and to the south there was once a stone memorial archway inscribed with four characters, “Victory Image Pagoda,” each character six inches wide. The upper inscription read “Built by the Prince of Weishun,” and the lower one bore the date “Third Year of Zhi Zheng, Great Yuan.” According to the History of Yuan: Biographies, Weishun was the grandson of Kublai Khan. It is recorded that Emperor Shizu of Yuan originally granted the territories of E (Wuchang) and Han (Hanyang) to his ninth son Tuohuan. However, as Tuohuan failed to achieve success in southern campaigns, the emperor swore never to see him again and reassigned him to Yangzhou. In the third year of the Taiding era (1326 AD), Emperor Taiding (Tiemu’er) granted the E-Han territories to Tuohuan’s son Kuanchuo Puhua and appointed him as Prince Weishun, assigning him to guard Wuchang. Weishun had four sons: Baoyenu, Jiedainu, Fojianu, and Heshang. Baoyenu and two others died in battles against Xu Shouhui, while Heshang was granted the title of Prince of Righteousness. The plaque refers to a prince but does not name him; it is unclear which of Weishun’s sons held the position, as neither historical accounts nor imperial genealogical records clarify this.

According to old records, in the first year of the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty (1621 AD), a crack about an inch wide appeared in the wall beneath the pagoda, from which smoke emerged. The stone memorial archway was demolished in the late Qing Dynasty when the New Army built a gun emplacement. During both the Ming and Qing dynasties, the pagoda and Yellow Crane Tower stood together on the old city wall of Snake Hill, complementing each other in a picturesque scene. In the tenth year of the Guangxu era (1884 AD), Yellow Crane Tower was destroyed by fire, but the pagoda remained standing.

During the 1955 relocation, stone pillar bases of the archway gate were discovered on the southern side of the pagoda; the interior is hollow with no underground chamber. Inside the enclosed central chamber, a finely carved stone stupa was found, over one meter tall, with a round base and an octagonal body, topped with various lotus decorations. A bronze treasure bottle with a sealed bottle cap was also found in the chamber. When shaken, it made a rustling sound, and its concave bottom bore two double-hooked characters engraved on the flat surface, reading: “Diligently recorded in the ninth month of the 27th year of Hongwu, in the year of Jiyou, 1394.” The body of the bottle was inscribed with: “A Buddha’s Stupa, enshrining relics. May the nation be peaceful and the people safe, forever blessed by the Buddha.” This indicates that the bottle contained the ashes of a “Buddha.” The sealed chamber of the pagoda had been opened or restored prior to September 18, 1394 (the 27th year of the Hongwu era, 1394 AD).

The pagoda’s form tapers outward and inward, robust and natural. Its overall shape gradually contracts from the base upward, with dimensions decreasing progressively. Its outline is roughly triangular. Though not large, it appears solemn and stable, embodying a strong sense of dignity. The pagoda’s exterior is divided into five parts: the base, the bottle, the spire, the umbrella canopy, and the finial. The finial is made of alloy material.

The Victory Pagoda is a Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana stupa and also one of the earliest types of pagodas introduced to China from India, translated as “Stupa” (Sanskrit: Stūpa), hence also called a Lamaist Pagoda. The Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism was revered as the state religion during the Yuan Dynasty. With the political influence of the Yuan people spreading inland, this type of pagoda was also introduced to the Central Plains.

The Miaoying Temple Pagoda inside Fuchengmen in Beijing is the most representative Vajrayana pagoda of the Yuan Dynasty nationwide, and the design of the Victory Pagoda is largely identical to it.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units