The Danling White Pagoda is located in Danling County, Meishan City, Sichuan. It was built during the Dazhong period of the Tang Dynasty (847--860) to complement the original Danling White Crane Temple complex. of. After more than 1,100 years of wind and rain erosion, it is still intact. It is the oldest brick tower with dense eaves in Sichuan and the oldest architectural art masterpiece in Meishan City. ?
The Danling White Pagoda is 27.5 meters high (of which the pagoda is 2.2 meters high). It is a square, four-cornered brick-topped 14-story dense eaves tower. There is a stepping path in the middle of the pagoda, which can be spiraled to the top. The shape is majestic, very similar to the shape of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an today and the Tang Dynasty pagoda in Leshan. Danling White Pagoda is a dense-eaves type ? Danling White Pagoda
pagoda. Its external characteristics are that the first floor of the lower part of the tower is particularly tall. Above the first floor, the distance between each floor is particularly short, and the tower eaves are closely connected, just like the double eaves of a double-eaves pavilion. Except for the first floor, there are generally no doors or windows on the above floors. This kind of tower is a branch of the pavilion tower. The tower has no platform or base. The tower body is straight out of the ground. The bottom edge of the tower body is 6.02 meters wide per square. There is an arch at the square bottom. There are trapezoidal lintels and real or false windows with herringbone lintels on all levels above. , the layers are stacked to form eaves, and wind chimes are hung at the corners of each eaves, which will ring when the wind blows. It is the "White Tower Bell" in Danling's eight ancient scenes. The tower is gradually tapered inward from level 7 to above. There are only 5 floors in the tower. The bottom center is equipped with five bricks and eight brackets on the top to support the ceiling (caisson) formed by overlapping. There were originally wintersweet on the wall. There are several flowers, and there is a relief on the bottom wall. There are no brackets on the second, third and fourth floors, and there is no ventricle on the fifth floor. There are original paintings and Buddha statues. According to expert research, the Danling White Pagoda was built in the Tang Dynasty and was located in the original Baihe Temple. Volume 43 of "Sichuan Tongzhi·Yu Di" records: ""Ming Tongzhi": Baita Temple governs the west of Danling County, and its old name is Baihe. "It was built in the late Dazhong period of the Tang Dynasty and contained reliefs. It was rebuilt in the Song Dynasty, recorded by Su Shi, and renamed in the early Yongle period." Another theory is that it was built in the Sui Dynasty. According to the "Buddhist Temple" in "Danling County Chronicles" (edition in the 12th year of the Republic of China): "Baita Temple is also an ancient temple... There is a floating picture on the left side of the temple, with a towering cloud and night sky. It was built in the Renshou period of the Sui Dynasty." . Later, according to expert research: "This pagoda has fourteen levels outside and four levels inside, which does not conform to the rules of a pagoda, and the top of the pedal does not seem to have reached the end. It is suspected that it was broken and later generations repaired it to look like this." "The structure of this pagoda is similar to that of the Chongsheng Temple pagoda in Dali and the Longxing Temple pagoda in Pengshan, and is almost from the Tang Dynasty. The internal Song-style brackets and Pantuo pedals were repaired by later generations." Therefore, most experts believe that "Danling White Pagoda is a monument that may have been built in the Tang Dynasty and then repeatedly transformed, while still retaining the style of the Tang Pagoda." Judging from the inscriptions "October Gudan in the twelfth year of Daoguang" cast on the middle section of the pagoda and "Buddha, October 20th, Wanli Yisi year" cast on the lower section, it also shows that it was repaired many times during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Danling White Pagoda is a witness to the history of Danling. Danling has been established as a county since the Emperor Kaihuang of the Sui Dynasty. The people of the ancient city were unwilling to be left alone. They first built the Danling White Crane Temple, which symbolizes the "King of Earth", to show the saints in Feng Shui, then built a Confucian Temple to cultivate virtuous scholars, and then built the Danling White Pagoda. Add color to the ancient city. Since then, Danling has really produced a lot of talents. Over the past 100 years, 125 people have been awarded Jinshi and more than 300 people have been promoted. Therefore, it enjoys the reputation of "the hometown of talented scholars". Among them, calligrapher Yang Ling, female Taoist Cheng Wuwei, poet monk Ke Peng, historian Li Tao, "Little Dongpo" Tang Geng, "Crystal Lantern" Sun Daofu, national hero Liu Ji, and "relegated talent" Li Bi , educator Li Changyuan and so on, they are world-renowned and their names will remain in history. They all went to Danling City to view the pagoda, climb the pagoda, and chant the pagoda, and left many hymns. Peng Duan Shuyun said: "The tower is majestic and majestic to the west of the city, far into the night. The bells sound above, the clearer and clearer are carried by the wind. Wake up the dreamer, look back and think about the other side." Observing the tower and climbing the tower have a special interest. Danling White Pagoda is located in the west of Danling County, at the intersection of Provincial Highway 106 and Dan (Leng) Shun (Long) Road. From a distance, Danling White Pagoda is very similar to Xi'an Small Wild Goose Pagoda, majestic, tall and graceful in shape. A closer look shows that the tower is a square, fourteen-story brick building with dense eaves and sharp peaks, with a total height of nearly 30 meters. Looking up, there are fourteen layers of dense eaves on the first floor of the tower. The distance between the eaves of each layer is very short, like double eaves pavilion-style double eaves.
The overlapping portions of the brick eaves of each layer gradually decrease from bottom to top, forming a soft parabolic outline. The spaces between each layer of brick eaves are shaped like bird wings, giving people a light and comfortable feeling. On the low walls between the eaves, there are lattice windows and small holes on each side. It is said that these windows and holes are used for decoration or internal lighting. There are 72 copper bells hanging on the eaves and corners of the tower. The bells ring in the wind and white clouds surround the ancient tower. It is known as the "White Tower Bells" and has been listed as one of the "Eight Danling Scenic Spots" in the past dynasties.