Some people say that November at the School Gate

It's the most beautiful time of the year

Why do you say that?

See the Baoqing Temple Tower next to the archway of the Shuyuan Gate

You can know why

Oil painting is difficult to compete with the middle scene of the tower

- Yunyou Baoqing Temple Tower-

Walking through the underground passage and coming out from the direction of the college gate, you can see a row of ginkgo trees, shining golden in the sun. The Baoqing Temple Tower is covered with a warm yellow filter and stands not far away.

If it was just yellow, it would be too monotonous. There are also green pine trees, dark red maples, and green poplar trees planted next to the Baoqing Temple Tower... Such layered red and green are difficult for even oil paintings to describe.

If the day is sunny, you can see clear skies and cloudless scenery. The washed blue sky sets off the various leaves to make it even more beautiful, and you can see scenery that you can encounter and never ask for at your fingertips.

Under the lush scenery, the Baoqing Temple Pagoda is like a bamboo shoot that has emerged from the ground, growing wantonly in the forest. It is the exclusive color of these autumn leaves that gives this thousand-year-old pagoda new vitality.

Record the rise and fall of the ancient city for thousands of years

- Yunyou Baoqing Temple Tower-

The Baoqing Temple Pagoda is not as tall and graceful as the Little Wild Goose Pagoda, and it is inconspicuous in the busy city. Only when you occasionally look back will you suddenly realize that it is silent and silent, recording the rise and fall of the ancient city for thousands of years. It has gone through the troubled times of the late Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. Rebuilt.

Although the Baoqing Temple Tower is located at the corner of Shuhumen in the south gate, this is not the place where it was born. The Baoqing Temple Tower we see now was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty.

Baoqing Temple, where the original Baoqing Temple Pagoda was located, was built in the first year of Renshou of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty (601 AD). Its original site was Anrenfang, Daxing City of the Sui Dynasty (Chang 'an City of the Tang Dynasty). At first, no pagodas were built in Baoqing Temple. It was not until more than 200 years later, during the Dahe and Kaicheng years of Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty that people built a pagoda in the ancient temple.

Location of Anrenfang in Chang 'an City in Tang Dynasty

After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, Baoqing Temple, which was originally located in the city, was exposed outside the city. In the late Five Dynasties, Baoqing Temple was attacked by war again, and all the temples in the temple were destroyed. Only the Baoqing Temple Tower survived.

Late Tang War

In the second year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty (1451 AD), people rebuilt Baoqing Temple in the south gate. The Baoqing Temple Tower was also relocated to Xi'an, and has since settled in Shuhumen Street. The tower we see today is the one rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty.

The Hua Tower of Baoqing Temple photographed in 1902

Statue and cultural relics dispersed in the late Qing Dynasty

- Yunyou Baoqing Temple Tower-

After the renovation of Baoqing Temple in the Ming Dynasty, people moved more than 30 statue niches inlaid on Qibao Terrace in Guangzhai Temple of Tang Dynasty into Baoqing Temple for worship.

When Baoqing Temple was repaired in the first year of Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty (1723 AD), some statue niches were embedded into the inner wall of the Buddha hall and the outer wall of the brick tower for preservation. These statues are very exquisite, showing the artistic styles of many periods such as the Wei and Tang Dynasties. There are a total of 32 existing statues in the world. They are collectively called the "Baoqing Temple Statue Niches". Mr. Liang Sicheng once praised these statues as "representative works of Chinese carving in the early Tang Dynasty."

Eleven-sided Guanyin Niches Statue

(Originally located in Baoqingji Temple, existing at the Tokyo National Museum)

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, in troubled times, a large number of Chinese cultural relics were stolen and looted and lost overseas. Baoqing Temple was not spared. There are 25 stone carvings scattered around the world, 21 of which are in Japan and 4 in the United States. There are only 7 statues of Baoqing Temple left in China, of which 6 are inlaid on the Anbaoqing Temple Tower and 1 is collected by the Forest of Steles Museum.

Stone carvings on the inner wall of Baoqing Temple Buddhist scripture

While the cultural relics were scattered, the temple of Baoqing Temple was destroyed again and is no longer there.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the government repaired the Baoqing Temple Tower and included it in the second batch of key protected units in Shaanxi Province on May 31, 1957, ushering in its own rebirth.

Baoqing Temple Pagoda, which was born in a prosperous age and experienced troubled times, has witnessed the rise and fall of 15 centuries. In today's hard-won peaceful era, it stands quietly in the historical and cultural district of Stele Forest, receiving the attention and admiration of passers-by.

Although the Baoqing Temple Tower can only be viewed from a distance, it has long become a rare sight at the Academy Gate. Everyone who sees it can't help but ask about its name and history in detail.

If Chang 'an is the overlap of thousands of years of civilization in this land, then the Baoqing Temple Pagoda is the best footnote to time. Travel around the forest of steles and treasure the early winter beauty of Baoqing Temple Tower in the deepest part of your memory.

Source: Meeting the Forest of Steles

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