Chongxi Pagoda

Chongxi Pagoda is a brick-and-stone tower on Shiding Hill in Duanzhou District, Zhaoqing, with an octagonal plan and a granite base 1.84 m high and 46.5 m in perimeter. It rises 57.5 m through nine exterior storeys and 17 interior levels, entered from the northwest through the Qianqing Gate. Each storey has glazed-tile eaves hung with 72 bronze wind bells, and the corners carry stone Tuota Lishi figures flanked by reliefs of dragons, carp, phoenixes and qilin.

Chongxi Pagoda was begun in 1582 by Wang Pan, Lingxi vice commissioner, and completed in 1585. Sources give two motives: to "lock" the Xi River dragon believed to cause floods, and to gather the river's dispersed energy so that local talent would flourish. It was listed as a Guangdong provincial cultural relic in 1962, restored in 1960 and 1983, and repaired again in 1984 after damage during the Cultural Revolution.

The name Chongxi combines wishes for flourishing literary talent (wen yun xingwang) and boundless fortune (hongfu wuwian); the pagoda was a feng shui structure meant to gather the qi of the Xi River so that local scholars would multiply. Its construction was urged by Wang Pan, Lingxi vice commissioner, who noted that the river's waters rushed eastward and dispersed, leaving talent as sparse as morning stars.

The pagoda stands on Shidinggang hill on Talu Road in Duanzhou District, with the Xi River below. Entry is through the Qianqing gate on the northwest side; inside, wooden floors and red-railed balconies ring each level, and the climb spirals up through 17 interior storeys to the top. The site was listed as a Guangdong provincial cultural relic in 1962.

The eight corners of the octagonal plan each carry a stone Tuota Lishi figure, and between them run reliefs of two dragons chasing a pearl, a carp leaping the dragon gate, two phoenixes facing the sun and a qilin. The name Chongxi means flourishing fortune and boundless blessing, chosen when Wang Pan built the tower in 1582.