Puyang Si Pailou, also known as the Central Pavilion, is located at the intersection of the cross streets in the old city of Puyang. In the 16th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1521), Long Dayou, the magistrate of the Ming Dynasty, named the censor Hou Ying (from Puyang) as an official. Established with integrity and impartiality in enforcing the law. (Long Dayou built the "Mingdao Academy" in the second year of his appointment as the magistrate of Kaizhou. Hou Dajie, a student in Kaizhou, donated his family land as the "Mingdao Academy" school field. Long Dayou was quite moved. Long Dayou also missed Hou Dajie's grandfather Hou Chun and his father. Hou Yingzhengyi built four archways in the middle of the cross street to praise the Hou family's righteous deeds. The pavilion is 8.6 meters high, 6.6 meters long and 6.6 meters wide, and covers an area of ??43 square meters. The building is a wooden and stone structure, square in shape, with stone pillars at the four corners supporting the roof. The top of the pavilion is made of all wood, with tight tenons and brackets at each corner. The eaves are raised and covered with glazed tiles, shining with green light. Eight squatting lions are carved on the top ridge, which is lifelike. The four vertical ridges are each shaped into dragons, phoenixes, fishes and horses, in the shape of flying dragons and phoenixes, and leaping fish and horses.
The four-cornered beast with a vertical spine hangs down its copper bell, which sways and jingles in the wind. The interior of the pavilion is decorated with patterns and carved beams, which is very beautiful. The four forehead panels on the outer wall are carved with words like buckets, which are vigorous and powerful. They were written by the calligrapher Liu Wenxuan. It is called Zhuanxu's legacy capital in the east, Chanyuan Old County in the west, Hesu Baobao in the south, and North Gate Key in the north, which summarizes Puyang's long history and important geographical location.
"Zhuanxu's Legacy Capital" says that this was the place where Zhuanxu, one of the Five Emperors, established his capital. In fact, the place where Zhuanxu established his capital was not in the old city of Puyang, but in the Gaocheng ruins ten miles southeast of the old city. After Zhuanxu's death, people called it "Zhuanxu's Ruins", or Emperor Qiu. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the capital of the Wei Kingdom was moved here and was still called Emperor Qiu. Later, when the Wei Kingdom declined, people changed Diqiu's name to Puyang (probably around 240 BC) because the Pu River flowed through the south of the city. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Huzikou embankment of the Yellow River burst and was not repaired for more than 20 years, resulting in the city of Diqiu being flooded. The current Puyang County was built in the Later Jin Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and developed to its peak after the Chanyuan Alliance in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The area under the jurisdiction of Emperor Zhuanxu "reached Youling in the north, Jiaozhi in the south, Liusha in the west, and Panmu in the east" ("Historical Records: The Chronicles of the Five Emperors"), which was roughly the same as the territory of Qin Shihuang after he unified China. During the reign of the Yellow Emperor, there was no fixed imperial capital in China. Starting from Zhuanxu, Emperor Qiu was the capital, and China had its first capital since then.
The "North Gate Key" and "Heshuo Guarantee" are things that happened in the Song Dynasty. At that time, the Liao Kingdom established by the Khitan people invaded the Central Plains from the south. The important geographical location of Puyang (then called Chanzhou) played a role in blocking it. barrier to invasion.
In 1004 AD, the Liao invaded the south in a large scale and reached the city of Chanzhou. Under the advice of Prime Minister Kou Zhun, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty crossed the Yellow River to the northern city of Chanzhou (now Puyang) to "pro-war" against the Liao. Later, the Liao and Song Dynasties negotiated peace and concluded a peace treaty, which was known as the "Chanyuan Alliance" in history. The Liao invaded the Central Plains and were defeated many times under the city of Puyang. The Liao regarded Puyang as a forbidden area, and the Song Dynasty also regarded Puyang as a northern barrier. This is where the "Key to the North Gate" and "Heshuo Guarantee" come from.
"Chanyuan Old County" has a long history. Chanyuan is an inland lake located to the west of Puyang and south of Neihuang. Chanyuan County first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and belonged to the Wei State. The county government was located in the south of Chanyuan Lake. Its main function was to manage the affairs of the lake area. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the princes held two alliances here. In 553 BC, the State of Qi and the State of Jin competed for the control of the small states of Lu, Wei, and Cao. After several years of war, it was difficult to determine the outcome. Peace talks were held in Chanyuan (with the participation of 13 vassal states). Finally, Enter into a contract. In 543 BC, when the Song Dynasty suffered a famine, the above countries gathered in Chanyuan to discuss a plan to rescue the Song Dynasty, and finally reached a rescue agreement. In 241 BC, the Qin State occupied Diqiu and established Dongjun. In 948 AD, the state government moved to Desheng Nancheng, and Desheng City was renamed Chanzhou City (now Puyang County is Desheng North City).
The sixteen characters on the railings of the four archways summarize Puyang’s ancient civilization and important geographical location.
The original inscriptions on the fourth archway were different from those now. Jiajing's "Kaizhou Chronicles" records: "Four archways, in the middle of the cross street, Bianxianfu in the east, Duxian in the west, Zhuanxu's famous capital in the south, Ji'an's hometown in the north, Zhizhou Longda has established...". The current inscription on the four archways is "The east is Zhuanxu's legacy capital, the west is the old county of Chanyuan, the south is Hesu Baobao, and the north is North Gate Key". The inscriptions were written by Liu Wenxuan, a famous calligrapher from Puyang, after the renovation in 1982.