Longxing Pagoda

　　The Mysterious Smoking Pagoda — Longxing Pagoda, located atop a high cliff at the northern end of Xinjiang County’s North Street. When you get off at the South Gate of the county town and cross the makeshift footbridge, or drive across the Fen River Bridge upstream from the footbridge, as soon as you step onto the bustling streets of Xinjiang County, you can gaze into the distance and spot the rising smoke from Longxing Pagoda.

　　As you approach Xinjiang, in this ox-shaped county town, the first thing you’ll see is Longxing Pagoda. Perched at the highest point of the town and standing tall and proud, it is highly conspicuous, seemingly waving to greet visitors from afar and returning locals. Cross Longxing Avenue, climb the steps, and look toward the pagoda. This 43-meter-tall pagoda, built during the Tang Dynasty and renovated during the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong era, is named after Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, who once stayed here. The pagoda is as white as jade, with eight sides adorned with bells on their flying eaves. When the wind kisses the bells, they tinkle like a beautiful melody. Although it may not be as tall as the Flying Rainbow Pagoda of Guangsheng Temple in Hongtong, nor as majestic as the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, Longxing Pagoda has its own mysteries. On one side of the pagoda, an inscription records that the pagoda’s top frequently emits blue smoke, a marvelous spectacle and a mystery in the world. This phenomenon was clearly documented a hundred years ago: “In the year of Guihai during the Guangxu reign (1899), smoke rose from the pagoda’s top, and all took it as a sign of rapid rise to success.” In the decades that followed — the 1940s, 1960s, and 1970s — there were more such mysterious smoke events. The most recent occurrence was in August 1993, when blue smoke once again emerged from the pagoda, drawing tens of thousands of people from three provinces and eight counties and cities to witness the marvel. Domestic experts have conducted numerous investigations into why the pagoda smokes, but no definitive answer has been found. During one smoke event in the 1970s, some speculated it was caused by swirling mosquitoes. A local resident courageously climbed the iron ladder on the pagoda and, holding a white cloth dabbed with honey, tried to swat at the area where the smoke was rising. He then leaped down and unfolded the cloth, only to find no significant presence of mosquitoes. During the smoke event around the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1993, people used a camera to zoom in on the smoke rising over 40 meters high. At first glance, the curling blue smoke resembled swarms of mosquitoes, but upon closer inspection, it looked somewhat different. The debate continues, and no conclusive explanation has been reached.

　　The mystique of Longxing Pagoda likely lies in the iron gourd at its top. Across the world, pagodas come in countless shapes and forms, but it’s rare to hear of one topped with an iron gourd weighing several hundred kilograms. In the past, when people built pagodas, they often buried treasures beneath them — such as the relics of Buddha, or rare gold and silver artifacts. But Longxing Pagoda places its treasure atop the structure, causing it to emit smoke frequently under certain conditions — and that’s precisely what makes it so remarkable.