The Songjiang Square Pagoda or Songjiang Fangta, officially the Xingshengjiao Temple Pagoda, is a Buddhist

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

in the old town of Songjiang in suburban

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Originally built in the 11th century, it is the only structure remaining from the Xingshengjiao Temple, and is now enclosed in the Fangta Park. The 9-story pagoda is tall, and it has become Songjiang's most famous landmark.

History

The pagoda was built between 1068 and 1077, when Songjiang was the largest city in the Shanghai region, a prosperous stop on the Grand Canal between

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

and

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

. Each side of the ground floor is about long, and its nine stories reach high. It formed part of Songjiang's Xingshengjiao Temple, originally established in 949 but now completely destroyed. Its

Northern Song The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

style has not changed despite renovations under the Ming and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

and, more recently, in the mid- to late 1970s.. In 1974, its first-floor staircase was restored. In 1974 or 1975, a brick vault was discovered under the pagoda during renovations. It was the tomb of the 11th-century

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

Miaoyuan () whose ashes—as was common of other masters during the Northern Song—had been placed within the hollow belly of the enlightened

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

to serve as an object of veneration.. The

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

reclining Buddha A reclining Buddha is an image that represents Buddha lying down and is a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art. It represents the historical Buddha during his last illness, about to enter the parinirvana. He is lying on his right side, his h ...

was long and more than . Two

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

teeth and seven relic beads were placed neatly nearby in two silver cases. The Buddha and the silver cases had been stored in a

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be c ...

case, which had been placed in a larger stone one and then stored in an undecorated crypt. The Square Pagoda is the centerpiece of the modern city's Fangta Park, which was organized in 1980 by Feng Jizhong as one of the first reassertions of the importance of traditional Chinese architecture after the ravages of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. It was added to Shanghai's nationally-protected sites (as No.83-5) in 1996. and is now Songjiang's most famous landmark.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * . * . * .

External links

* , a photograph of the pagoda in the 1930s
Xingshengjiao Temple Pagoda, Architectura Sinica Site Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:SQUARE PAGODA, SONGJIANG 11th century in China Pagodas in China Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shanghai

History

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links