The history of zhenhai tower, zhenhai tower

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was a neutral country in the war, knew the importance of wall fortifications in the war. In order to rebuild the old city overthrown by the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, in the fourth year of Hongwu (137 1), Zhu Yuanzhang sent his son-in-law Wang Gong, that is, his father-in-law, to Fuzhou to supervise the construction of Fuzhou in the Ming Dynasty. Wang Gong changed the northern section of Fuzhou city wall from the bottom of Pingshan to Pingshan, so that Pingshan was half in the city and half outside the city. He is a military strategist. He set up an artificial natural barrier in the north of Fuzhou, and there was no danger to keep, overlooking the north. He is an architect. He built the North Gate Tower on the top of Pingshan as a sample of the seven towers that were not built in Fuzhou. So the tower on Pingshan was called the model building from the beginning, and Pingshan also had the fashionable name of that year. He is a poet, and the model building he built has become a gathering place for Fuzhou literati for a time. Dengsi Building is full of nostalgia. "Zhucheng has no balcony in the north, and Wanjing fireworks blow back." . Standing on the new building of Wang Yueshan, overlooking the lights of the city without a city, remembering the Min Yue King who led the Min Yue people into the hall of Chinese culture became the theme of literary creation in that year. A sigh of "looking back at the old song and dance place, spring grass flies year after year" Buildings in the Ming Dynasty were mainly made of wood. Except for two towers, most urban buildings are close to the ground. High-rise buildings are built on the top of the mountain in the center of the north of the city, overlooking the endless river estuary. The mountains in the distance are as low as mud balls, which have the feeling of controlling maritime traffic, and gradually have the reputation of zhenhai tower. "Wang Yue embraces the tide, and the rocks are craggy with zhenhai tower", which is an earlier poem about zhenhai tower. In fact, Wang Gong may also be a surveyor. He actually built a Feng Shui building for the urban construction of Fuzhou. On the one hand, the snake culture of Fujian and Vietnam people after sinicization continued the worship of snakes in Fujian culture, on the other hand, they looked at snakes from the perspective of Han people in the Central Plains, trying to turn them into dragons and make them take off. The folklore of building Baita and Wuta fully expresses this idea, and building Zhenhai Tower on the "Longtou" mountain above the moss spring named "Tequila Spring" is like putting a crown on the dragon in Fuzhou.

Zhenhai Tower, which stands on the city skyline, has become an important symbol of ships entering and leaving the Minjiang Estuary since its completion. Whenever the tide rises at the Five Humens, ships always take Zhenhai Tower as the "quasi-lookout", that is, the navigation mark when entering and leaving the estuary. Even when night falls or fog covers, navigators always refer to the direction of Zhenhai Tower to find the direction of entering the port.

As a sample building of Fuzhou Tower, zhenhai tower is divided into two floors, with upturned cornices. It was built according to the standards of the Ming Dynasty. Although it has been destroyed many times, the basic dimension has not changed much. According to "Rebuilding zhenhai tower Monument" written by Xie, who gave lectures in the Academy, Bailudong Academy and Zhiyong Academy during Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, the traditional dimensions are six feet high, seven feet deep and thirteen feet wide, and the surrounding city walls are five feet three inches thick. According to the current length standard, its height is about 2 1m, its depth is 24 m, its width is 45.6 m, and the wall connecting zhenhai tower is 1.73m thick. Of course, this is not an accurate figure.

According to the information available now, from the fourth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (137 1) to the last demolition in 1970, nine large buildings were destroyed in about 600 years. Check the reason. I was struck by lightning three times, caught fire twice, was blown down by strong wind once, and collapsed twice for unknown reasons. It may be disrepair. The last man-made demolition was in 1970. Most of the nine large-scale construction projects of Zhenhai Tower were initiated by the government and raised funds with the people. The building was rebuilt a few months after being struck by lightning in the tenth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1860). Probably due to the shortage of funds, its width was reduced by three feet, and it only took more than 30 years to collapse, which was considered as a flash in the pan in zhenhai tower history. Both the government and the people believe that this is caused by the change of the designated size. In the 18th year of Guangxu (1892), the old system was restored, suggesting that the error between the building size and the old system was less than one foot. Chen wrote an inscription with a brush. 1933, zhenhai tower rebuilt by Guangxu was also destroyed by fire. That year, the 19th Route Army retreated from Shanghai and launched the "Fujian Incident". In the military confrontation with Chiang Kai-shek's army, a military watchtower was built on the former site of zhenhai tower. During his stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Lin Sen, then chairman of the National Government, proposed to rebuild zhenhai tower, but failed to do so. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Fujian Councillors proposed to transform the watchtower into "Linsen Memorial Hall". The construction of this wish began with the groundbreaking ceremony of 1946 presided over by Sa Zhenbing, which took three years to complete. 1948 Tomlinson Memorial Hall, which was built on the former site of Zhenhai Tower, was demolished artificially in the turmoil of 1970. The public reason is that it has become a symbol of military attack, only existed for more than 20 years.

During the Qianlong period, zhenhai tower, who was struck by lightning three times and died in flames twice, was "calculated", saying that the sharp shape of Wang Yueshan belonged to the phase of Mars, and it was not appropriate to use angular roofs for buildings, but it was necessary to change it into a shed-type fire prevention, but zhenhai tower was not spared by the fire. On the hillside in front of zhenhai tower, there are also some stone jars surrounded by six small stone pillars. Seven of them are called "Seven Star Aquarium". From the perspective of "feng shui", it symbolizes the arrangement and combination of the Big Dipper according to the astronomical phenomena, and it is also for fire prevention. At that time, the fire in Fuzhou, a wooden city, was raging, and even zhenhai tower, who worshipped Zhenwu Jun, the God of the North, was inevitably caught in flames, let alone other people's families.