Sanhui White Pagoda

Sanhui White Pagoda

The Sanhui White Pagoda is a cultural relic protection unit of Sichuan Province.

The Sanhui White Pagoda is located 1.5 kilometers south of Sanhui Town, Qu County, Sichuan Province, on the right bank of the Qu River. The preface to the Sanhui Pagoda in the *Qu County Annals* praises it as: “Fronted by the beauty of Ox Hill, backed by the wonder of Dragon Ridge, it aligns with the yin and yang on the mountaintop and measures orientation by the riverside.”

The pagoda was built during the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty. According to records, it was originally erected to promote education and was then called the Wenfeng Pagoda. It has thirteen stories, is 53 meters tall, and has a hexagonal shape, painted entirely milky white. The base and the first story are constructed from stone, each side measuring 4.4 meters in length and 0.9 meters in thickness. A round arched gate facing the Qu River is built at ground level, 2.9 meters high with an arch height of 1 meter. The eaves are carved from stone, and the six corners are upturned. Stories 2 to 13 are built from brick, with rectangular lookouts shaped like finished products on each side. Four copper bells hang from the top of the pagoda. The arched gate of the first story is adorned with a horizontal stone plaque, 1.8 meters long and 0.7 meters wide, inscribed in intaglio with the three characters “Wenfeng Pagoda”. On the second story, there is an intaglio stone plaque reading “Climb Yet Higher”, and on the third, one reading “Can’t Bear to Stop”—all three plaques are in regular script. The pagoda’s rooftop features flying eaves and high-hanging wind chimes; the copper bells ring out crisply and melodiously in the wind. Originally, the interior had 13 wooden floors with a spiral wooden staircase connecting each level all the way to the top. The inner circumference at the base is 19.8 meters; the first story houses six stone tablets inscribed with the pagoda’s preface and the names of donors, while the upper levels each have four pottery and wood-carved Buddha statues. Every floor has observation windows—from which distant mountains appear like emerald screens, the nearby ancient town resembles a painting, and the Qu River below looks like a silk ribbon—offering views of both near and distant scenery. Towering on the riverbank stone reef, it stands proudly against the surging river, resembling a giant holding a silver sword stretching toward the sky.

The preface to the Sanhui Pagoda in the *Qu County Annals* praises it:

It soars into the crimson clouds, serving as a pillar in the midstream of two rivers;

Its base overlooks emerald waves, nurturing countless generations of blooming literary tides.

There is a bridge flying across the Qu River to the north and another to the south, spanning east and west like twin dragons lying on the waves.