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Chapter 31 Gossip about a little news about ancient architecture

(External Communications [-]~[-])
At a time when the entire nation and its culture are struggling with their fate, how much news you have about ancient art, you can only feel indescribably uncomfortable!
Art has never existed apart from a lively nation; when a nation decays and disappears, their art also sinks and dies.Knowing that a people has been prolific in past ages does not guarantee that they are still active and prosperous now.

But on the other hand, if we have no ability to clean up or protect the family property left by our ancestors, so that the treasures of the family are destroyed and lost, or they are sold on the second-hand stalls; this phenomenon just proves that we are Those who are descendants are worthless, and their intelligence and virtue have reached the point where they cannot be degraded.Open your eyes and say to the old literature and art, "Fuck you, we have a restoration, a revolution, and there is no need to keep any old knowledge or skills."This is not only unreasonable, it is almost rascal!

The words can’t go too far. The title has clearly mentioned the news about ancient buildings. Unfortunately, our country is so old, and every day is an urgent crisis. It seems a little bit strange to hear news about art. Out of season, but, believe me--a lot has been said above--it's something we'd certainly care about, if our people hadn't degenerated to the point where we didn't recognize ancestral treasures.

To put it simply, the news is that a few die-hard architects recently gave up their good opportunity to build bungalows, rolled up their beds and went everywhere to survey and map the advanced ones of their peers hundreds of years ago, using all their wisdom at that time The craftsmanship, the amazing and great buildings built, were in front of the octagonal five-story wooden pagoda of the Liao Dynasty in Yingxian County, Shanxi when I submitted this article.

The wooden pagoda of the Liao Dynasty in Yingxian County, Shanxi is easy to say, but it sounds unremarkable.But from 870 in the Western calendar to the present, it is a full 280 years.The ancient wooden buildings were as high as [-] feet. In China, there is only this unique Yingxian Fogong Temple Pagoda left.Wooden structures earlier than this tower have been seen, recognized and studied, and there are only five places in China.

The evolution history of Chinese architecture is still a lantern riddle today. If one day in the future, we are quite sure to write a history of architecture, that history of architecture will be like the most interesting detective novel, in which the main characters give the detectives Quite convenient and clueless, the left is not the few surviving oldest relics.At present, there is no wooden structure in the Tang Dynasty found in China, and the construction methods published in the Song Dynasty still have difficulties that cannot be fully explained. This is not long before the Tang Dynasty, and the Liao Dynasty, which was before the heyday of the Song Dynasty, has left us some excellent wooden towers. , high pavilions, Buddhist halls, and scriptures help us grasp many important key points before and after. This is already a remarkable thing in the eyes of a few stubborn people who study architecture.

At first, I didn't seem to have much enthusiasm for this wooden pagoda in Yingxian County. The reason is that since Sicheng knew about this pagoda, his concern for this pagoda almost surpassed his own daily life.When washing his face in the morning, he would say "It shouldn't be too difficult to go to Ying County", and when eating, he would say "Shanxi has built the best car roads".When walking, he would suddenly laugh and say, "If I can survey and map the Yingzhou Tower, I think, I will..." He often didn't finish his sentence, perhaps because he was afraid of language profanity because of too serious matters.The most uncomfortable thing is that he has never seen the appearance of this tower, not even a blurred photo, or a reprint!
One morning, among our few letters, I found a paper package, the sender’s address was the ××zhai Photo Studio in Ying County, Shanxi—this is an interesting page in detective novels—so he thought about it. In such a way, write a letter to "explore the highest photo studio in Yingxian County, Shanxi", and get a photo of the wooden pagoda in Yingzhou.I have to laugh and say Amitabha, fortunately he is not a movie star!The asking price of this photo studio is also very strange. They want some letter paper and letter paper from Beiping as remuneration. It is said that there is no Nan paper shop in Ying County.

Three years have passed, let us praise him "Where there is a will, there is a way". This Mr. Sicheng is actually in front of the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda—not only the top, bottom, inside, and outside—surrounding the surveying and mapping He admired the wooden pagoda.

Communication ([-])

... The work of Datong has been completed, except for Huayan Temple, which is quite detailed.Today is the most tiring day since arriving in Datong, but it is also the most recent day in Daotuying County, and I am very happy.At [-] o'clock in the morning, I will take the bus from Tata to Dai, and I will change the wheel car from there to "get up early", and call when I arrive.After you left, we felt that our work was not effective. We all recalled the smoothness of working with you everywhere with a happy meaning, and regretted that you left too early.Because I also thought of our special relationship with Yingta, I regret not forcing you to stay with me to pay my respects.I really don't feel relieved to leave it at home for a long time, there is absolutely no way to do it, it's hateful.The work in Ying County can be completed in about four or five days, and then I will go to X County...

Communication ([-])

Yesterday at [-] o'clock in the morning, I set off from the same car. The car was still new and the road was flat. Sometimes I went at a speed of [-] miles per hour and arrived at Daiyue at about [-] o'clock.Daiyue is an important town in Shanyin County, but it took two hours to hire a car to find it, and it was eight o'clock when we arrived in Ying County.

Twenty miles away from the county, I have seen the pagoda. I saw it flickering in the setting sun, until I saw it become a silhouette. That was my farewell gift to this pagoda.On the road, because the car swayed too much, I felt a little dizzy, but it recovered after arriving.The county magistrate has a good horse, and he should borrow one to ride on the return journey, so as to avoid the pain of motion sickness.

Today I officially went to visit the Buddhist Temple Pagoda, absolutely Drewbelming (perfect), so amazing that I couldn't breathe for a long time!
There are five floors in the tower, but there is an auxiliary tower on the lower floor (note: the second floor of the double-eave building, which is called the auxiliary tower in the Song Dynasty), and four upper floors, each of which has a flat seat (a total of ten floors in total). Between the buckets, each floor must be looked down, looked up, and one for each plane; a total of twenty planes need to be drawn!The plane of the tower is octagonal, and each floor must have a section on the median line and an oblique center line.

There are thirty or forty kinds of people who are different, and the work is unexpectedly diverse and interesting. The "five days" of work in the future may not be too much.

The size of the tower is really amazing.There are three bays on each side, and the eight sides are exactly the same.My first feeling is that it's a pity that you are not here to enjoy this feast with me, otherwise I really don't know how much you will fall in love with me!Recalling the scene of staring at the statue in the twilight of Shanhua Temple in Datong, I am so happy that I don't want to forget the sharpness triggered by aesthetic instinct, which is rare in life at that moment.Especially with several people with the same interest, immersed in that sharp feeling at the same time.When Shi Neng Wangqing said, "If there is such a fine product after Yuan and Ming Dynasties, my Liu character will hang upside down", I can still hear it from time to time.This pagoda is more majestic than the halls of Datong, but its height alone is impressive.Shi Neng was very happy that he listened to our persuasion and did not give up this place to take a look at it, although he would leave before the survey.

Ying County is a small city and a salt-producing area.There is salt water not deep enough to be dug underground, so you can cook salt, so it is a place without trees. Looking at the whole city from the tower, there are only fourteen trees that are not very tall!

The work is heavy, and the return date may be much longer, but all the board and lodging are still comfortable, and the residence is not far from the tower, please rest assured...Communication ([-])

Shi Neng has returned, and Mo Jun and I

Staying here for detailed work, it has been a month since I left home, but it seems longer.I think it is the time when autumn is refreshing in Beiping.Very homesick!
The photos have been taken, and the tenth floor plan is fully measured, and it is very detailed. It will save a lot of trouble when transcribing the front map in the future.Starting tomorrow, measuring buckets and cross-sections should be done again.

My legs have had bad luck before, so I don't have to worry about it.Now that it is done well, I hope to make two floors a day, and finally use instruments to measure the height of the eaves and the pagoda, and it may be completed in three or four days.

This tower is truly a unique and great work.If you don't see this tower, you don't know how possible the wooden structure is.I admire it very much, the era when this tower was built, and the unknown architects and craftsmen in that era.

The status of the tower is not bad, although it is slightly decayed. It has endured the wind and rain for more than 870 years, and it has also experienced modern civilization: when Feng Yuxiang attacked Shanxi in the [-]th and [-]th years of the Republic of China, this tower suffered a lot of shells, and the traces still exist, which really makes me blush.On the second floor, a section of a dirt path was knocked out. On the fourth floor, there is still a bomb embedded in the forehead that has not been taken out. The two eaves columns on the west side of the lowest floor have holes the size of bowls, which are piercing through the column body. It can be described as unique.In addition, there are countless gun holes, but fortunately it has not been knocked down, which is also a blessing for this tower.People in Ying County now have proposals to donate money for rebuilding. After returning to Pingping in the future, they will inevitably work hard for them. Needless to say, they will have to come to Ying County again when the construction starts.

There is no news from X County so far. Although I sent an email to inquire the day before yesterday, if I get a reply within two or three days, if it is similar to the temples in Datong, I will not go there. of! ...Communication ([-])

... The work has been going well in the past two days. The cross-section of the fifth floor (ie the top floor) of the tower has been half done and can be finished tomorrow.After the section is completed, there will be a trip to the top to measure the height of the phase wheel on the top of the tower; then the stairs, railings, and grid fans in detail; then use instruments to measure the overall height and direction; then copy the stele; and then inspect the damage for future repairs.My present task with respect to this great building thus comes to an end for the time being.

When the work was about to finish today, there was a sudden "unforeseen storm".Around 280:5 p.m. on a sunny day, it was violently stormy and accompanied by thunder and lightning.We are on the top beam frame, and we can't help but feel our own danger, not only on the [-]-foot-high wooden frame that is nearly a thousand years old, but also under the iron phase wheel on the top of the tower. friendship.We climbed down in a hurry, and saw that the actual measurement record book had been blown away, and a page had already flown onto the railing.Another half a second late and all ten days' work was in danger of being lost.After chasing that page, we hurried downstairs—about [-] minutes—and when we got downstairs, there was already a ray of scorching sun shooting out from the gaps in the blue sky. The wind, rain, thunder and lightning had all signed the armistice agreement.I looked up to see that the tower was still there, celebrated that it had escaped another thunderstorm, and headed back to the house through the fast-flowing street.

In addition to climbing the tower every day here, I also went to XX Zhai to see the gentleman who asked me to buy letterheads.Due to the depression of his business, he only repairs clocks and watches and does not take pictures now... For this small piece of news, copying the original newsletter seems to be more interesting to readers, and it can also preserve the impressions and memories of people who worshiped this ancient pagoda when they were working. After passing, it can save the person who wrote this news to say side words.Although the special aspects of the structure were not discussed in the newsletter, it also constituted its own chapter in that detective novel. At least the case of the XX Zhai photo studio has a beginning and an end, and the marriage between Sicheng and this tower can also be called a perfect marriage. .

I have only one thing to add about this tower.In terms of the overall layout of Fogong Temple, this pagoda is just in the center of the whole temple. There are mountain gates, bell towers, drum towers, east and west side halls in front, and bridge platforms at the back.This is a very interesting arrangement, at least we suspect that many of the ancient Jialan put the tower in the middle.

published in
September 1933, 10 "Ta Kung Pao Literary Supplement" No. 7

(End of this chapter)