Pavilion of Prince Teng
Tower in Nanchang, China
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History
The Pavilion of Prince Teng was first built in 653 AD, by Li Yuanying, the younger brother of Emperor Taizong of Tang and uncle of Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Li Yuanying was enfeoffed as Prince Teng in 639 and spent his early years in Suzhou. In 652 he was assigned the governorship of Nanchang where the pavilion served as his townhouse. Twenty years later, the building was rebuilt by the new governor. Upon its completion, a group of local intelligentsia gathered to compose prose and poetry about the building. The most famous of these is the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng by Wang Bo. This piece made the Pavilion of Prince Teng a household name in China down to the present day.
The Pavilion was subsequently destroyed and rebuilt a total of 29 times over the next centuries. The building itself changed shape and function many times. The penultimate construction was during the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty. That building was destroyed in October 1926 during the chaotic Warlord Era.
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Recent
The present Pavilion of Prince Teng was built according to the design of architect Liang Sicheng, and was completed on 8 October 1989; now a landmark of Nanchang. The building is of reinforced concrete, but decorated in Song Dynasty style. It is 57.5 meters (189 ft) tall and has nine stories. The building has a total floor area of 13,000 square meters (140,000 sq ft).
The building sits atop a 12-meter (39 ft) tall concrete platform, which symbolizes the now-destroyed ancient city wall. A stainless steel tablet at the entrance is engraved with a calligraphy work of Mao Zedong: 「落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色。」 ("Falling sunset and lone goose flying together; a single hue, autumn water and the long stretch of sky."), a quotation from Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng.
The garden was also built in 1989. The building mainly serves as a tourist attraction. Apart from internal decoration, attractions include a theater that stages performances of period music and displays of reconstructed ancient instruments. There are some restaurants and souvenir shops. The streets around the pavilion have been designed to conform with its style. This area has become the epicenter of Nanchang's antiques trade.
Influences
The Pavilion of Prince Teng achieved national fame through the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng. As a result, it was endowed by later generations with almost legendary status as an example of magnificent architecture. When the Forbidden City was built, its corner towers were built to imitate the Pavilion of Prince Teng and the Yellow Crane Pavilion as depicted in Song Dynasty paintings. (Strangely, both pavilions are depicted identically in surviving paintings.) These uniquely structured corner towers remain some of the most valued architectural treasures of the Forbidden City. The Pavilion of Prince Teng was very highly regarded in several dynasties during the history of China. It also served as an ancient library, storing a large number of precious scriptures and poems.
Construction timeline
According to Wang: