Tanzishan Wenfeng Pagoda

Tanzishan Wenfeng Pagoda

Tanzishan Wenfeng Pagoda is a Chongqing Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Tanzishan Wenfeng Pagoda is located in Cuntan, Jiangbei District, and dates back to the Qing Dynasty.

Tanzishan Wenfeng Pagoda, also known as the White Pagoda, is situated on Tanzishan Hill by the Yangtze River in Gailanxi, Jiangbei District, Chongqing. Constructed from brick and stone in a seven-tiered pavilion style, it stands 26.64 meters tall and was built in the 14th year of the Guangxu reign during the Qing Dynasty (1888). According to the “Record of the Reconstruction of Wenfeng Pagoda” inscribed on the pagoda’s stone wall, the current structure was rebuilt on the foundation of an older, long-ruined pagoda from several hundred years ago.

Throughout history, Tanzishan Wenfeng Pagoda has held a notable place among Chongqing’s scenic spots. Both the “Jiangbei Ting Zhi” and the “Jiangbei County Annals Draft” list it as part of the “Scenic Wonder of Yuzhou” under the name “Scholar’s Brush Piercing the Clouds.” In the past, when boatmen navigating the waterways caught sight of the pagoda atop Tanzishan in Jiangbei, they knew they were close to their destination. “Seeing Wenfeng Pagoda meant that Chaotianmen was just up ahead.” As such, the pagoda became a kind of “navigational beacon”—when sailors spotted it, they knew they had arrived in Chongqing.

Facing south and backed by the north, Tanzishan Wenfeng Pagoda is built from brick and stone in a seven-tiered pavilion style. The pagoda stands 26.64 meters tall, with a hexagonal steeple roof at its top. Its six-sided body features a window on each level, arranged in a spiral pattern. It stands facing the Huangjueya Wenfeng Pagoda in Nan’an District across the river, and together with the Juelin Temple Pagoda in Xiàhào, forms an intriguing cultural landscape known as the “Three Pagodas That Never Meet.”

The bricks of the pagoda bear the inscriptions “Wenfeng Pagoda” and “Year of Wuzi.” The lintel above the pagoda’s entrance is engraved with the words “Inscription of a Famous Site,” while the inner vault of the doorway is carved with “Built with Respect by the Local People in the Summer of the Year of Wuzi, the 14th Year of the Guangxu Reign, Qing Dynasty.” From the second tier upward, the pagoda is constructed with specially made bricks, each inscribed with the characters “Wenfeng Pagoda.” The plaque at the top of the seventh tier is engraved with the four characters “Néng Diǎn Hòu Dé” (roughly meaning “Can Inspire Virtue”).

The interior of the pagoda is hollow, and there was originally a wooden staircase leading to the top, from which one could enjoy the spectacular view of the convergence of the two rivers—“where emerald green and murky yellow waters meet.”

In 2000, Tanzishan Wenfeng Pagoda was designated as part of the first group of Chongqing Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Units by the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government.