China is so big, I want to visit it. Take you to a place you have been or have not been to.
Have you seen one tower, two towers, three towers, have you seen a group of one hundred and eight towers?
Ningxia has many historical mysteries. In addition to the demise of the Xixia Dynasty and the disappearance of ethnic groups, the 108 towers on the bank of Qingtongxia on the Yellow River are also a mystery.
2012 Ningxia Qingtongxia 108 Tower Ticket 30 yuan
The 108 Tower is located on the west bank of the Yellow River Grand Canyon in Qingtongxia, Ningxia. The water of the Yellow River flows westward, and flows northward at Qingtongxia in Ningxia, forming a Qingtongxia Grand Canyon. The 108th Pagoda is located on the west bank of the mouth of the Grand Canyon, sitting west to east, with mountains behind and water facing.
The Yellow River flows here, and because of the barrier of the Qingtongxia Dam, the Yellow River has become more docile.
The hillside on the west bank was artificially shoveled into a ladder shape, and the rocks were leveled layer by layer, and then square bricks were laid on it, with a total of 12 levels, which were gradually widened. From top to bottom, there are odd numbers of 1, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 pagodas on each floor, a total of 108 lama pagodas. The entire tower group forms an isosceles triangle pyramid array, which is unique in shape and magnificent.
Silk paintings of Thousand Buddhas with inscriptions in Xixia script were found in the base of the tower. Who in the Xixia period wanted to build such a large tower group on the west bank of the ancient Yellow River gorge for what purpose? There is no way to test it now.
Meng Yuan attacked Xixia six times, and Genghis Khan died in the sixth personal conquest, so when Meng Yuan captured Xixia, what kind of "total destruction" would it be to Xixia? Even the tombs of the Western Xia Dynasty were not spared, but why were these towers preserved? Is it because of faith?
The first tower on the first floor has a niche and a small temple behind the tower.
The bottom 19 towers are lined up.
Although they are all Lama pagodas, there are four subdivided pagodas. The first one at the highest point is bowl-shaped, 3.5 meters high, and the tower base is square; The sixth line is in the shape of a gourd; the seventh to twelfth lines are in the shape of a vase. The towers below the second row are all about 2.5 meters high, and they are all single-story octagonal xumizuo.
The number 108 is a very special number in traditional Chinese culture, and it is also a commonly used number in Buddhism. Buddhism believes that there are 108 kinds of troubles and sufferings in life, and the "meritorious master" who donated money to build the pagoda specially built it to eliminate the troubles and disasters in life. This explanation is more in line with "people's mind". The local people say that they go around the first pagoda three times, touch its 36 sections one by one, and then count 108 pagodas. Counting one pagoda will reduce one kind of trouble, and counting wrongly will increase troubles, so you have to count again.
It was also suggested that it was the 108 dharma bodies built for him by the meritorious master to worship Vairocana Buddha (Dari Tathagata Buddha). There are even legends that the 108th tower is Mu Guiying's "Dianjiangtai" and "Tianmen Formation", so it is unreliable, after all, it is a Buddhist building.
Do the twelve lines also have a deep meaning? Buddhism believes that the most basic confusion and pain in life have "twelve dependent origins". Twelve is also the most basic number related to time and space in ancient astronomy, astrology and calendars. 108, 12, are there hidden meanings?
On the Qingtongxia Yellow River, there is also the first Yellow River bridge in Ningxia built in 1959. It was abandoned when I visited it in 2012, and it has been repaired as a cultural relic now.
Qingtongxia Yellow River Bridge
On the east side of Qingtongxia (City) Binhe Avenue, on the west bank of the Yellow River, there is a landmark building along the Yellow River City Belt in Ningxia - Zhonghua Yellow River Building. The main building is 108 meters high and is currently the largest building of its kind in the country. It is known as "the first building on the Yellow River in the world" and "the building of ten thousand buildings". It was still under construction when I went there in 2012, and it is now a landmark new highlight in Ningxia and one of the important landscapes in the Yellow River Basin, and it is already a beautiful landscape project.
Yellow River Tower
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