Fahua Tower stands the test of time

Fahua Tower is now viewed as a blessing for Jiading’s intellectuals. — Wang Lihui

Fahua Tower, at Zhouqiao in Jiad-ing, was built between 1205 and 1207.

It is said that the students in Jiading were not competitive in the national examinations at that time, and someone suggested building a tower there with the name of Fahua, meaning the wisdom of Buddha in Chinese, in a hope that Jiading stu-dents could obtain that wisdom.

after the establishment of the tower, the students in Jiading began to rank high in the national exami-nations. as a result, Fahua Tower has long been viewed as a blessing among the district’s intellectuals.

During the Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, Fahua Tower fell into disrepair for several times.

In 1608, Chen Yiyuan, magistrate of then Jiading County, decided to renovate the seven-story tower. The brick structure has a height of 40.83 meters. Each level is equipped with a railing and cornices, below which hang wind chimes. When the wind blows, the bells chime. Visi-tors can take the stairs to the top floor for a panoramic view of the whole town.

It is a beautiful scene with the river flowing nearby between the narrow lanes and old traditional houses.

Later in 1924, Dai Sigong, another Jiading resident, collected money to repair the tower once again.

In 1994, the Jiading govern-ment spent nearly 2 million yuan (uS$313,897) to repair the leaning tower. During the renovation work, nearly 10,000 ancient relics dating from before the Song Dynasty (960-1279) were found, including ancient coins, jade figurines, sculptures carved from jade and stone, bronze wares, ceramics and ancient books.

Meanwhile, some modern trea-sures such as a pair of stone chops by Shanghai local Deng Sanmu, the most famous modern seal cutting master in southern China, a silver model of Santana car and Jiading bamboo carvings were buried in the basement as a time capsule.

at the end of 1996, the renovation of the tower was completed.