September Travel Recommendation: Dai County, Xinzhou | A Living Ancient City.

| A living ancient city. 📍 Dai County, formerly known as Dai Prefecture, is under the jurisdiction of Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province. It is 20 kilometers north of Yanmen Pass and has been a frontier fortress and military town guarding the north throughout the ages. "The Yinshan Mountains stretch north for 3,000 miles, and the first prefecture south of the Zise Pass", the small county has three national protected units: Bianjing Tower, Confucian Temple, and Ashoka Pagoda. Liang Sicheng once praised the Dai Prefecture Ancient City as "a wonderful plan", which is enough to show its profound historical and cultural heritage. 🏯 This is the last city inside Yanmen Pass, a historical and cultural city of China, and a severely underestimated treasure city. Stroll through the Dai Prefecture Ancient City and encounter historical civilizations scattered throughout the streets and alleys. 🎓 Confucian Temple 🎓 The Dai County Confucian Temple faces south, with three courtyards in front, middle, and back. It adopts a symmetrical layout on the central axis. From south to north, they are Wanrenfang, Lingxing Gate, Panchi, Jimen, Dacheng Hall, and Jingyi Pavilion. In front of Jimen, there are three temples: Minghuan, Xianxian, and Jiexiao. On both sides of Dacheng Hall, there are fifteen corridors. The Dai County Confucian Temple is large and well-preserved. It is a valuable material for studying the development of Chinese cultural education. The glazed dragon in the middle of the wall of the Lingxing Gate and the brick carvings below the flying eaves are of high historical and artistic value. 🍃 🌟 Martial Temple 🌟 The Dai Prefecture Martial Temple faces east. There are a pair of stone lions and a flagpole in front of the gate. Drum towers and bell towers are built in the north and south. There are five archways, with the words "Martial Temple" and "Zhuangmu Zhongwu" written on the plaque of the middle archway. The overall architecture is magnificent. The main hall of the Martial Temple is built on a one-meter-high platform. The architecture is magnificent, the structure is exquisite, and the atmosphere is solemn. It has a typical northern Jin and Yuan architectural style. It is the only existing and oldest hip-and-gable roof wooden structure in Dai County, with a history of 691 years. 🎖 🛡 Bianjing Tower 🛡 Bianjing Tower, commonly known as Drum Tower, also known as Qiaolou, means "pacifying the border and calming the people". It was a military facility in ancient times for watching enemies, beating drums, and commanding operations. It was built by Lu Zhonghe, Marquis of Ji'an, who was demoted to Dai County to arrest thieves during the early Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. Bianjing Tower is magnificent, simple, and ancient. The tower base is high, the beams are exquisite, and the structure is tight and reasonable. After hundreds of years of wind and rain erosion and multiple earthquakes, it is still intact. 🔭 🛡 Ashoka Pagoda 🛡 Ashoka Pagoda is located in the northeast of the county government in Dai County, facing Bianjing Tower. It is a national key cultural relics protection unit. Commonly known as the Pagoda, it was originally the pagoda of Yuanguo Temple in Dai County. The pagoda was first built in 601 AD during the Sui Dynasty. It was originally a wooden pagoda and was destroyed in 842 AD during the Huichang period of the Tang Dynasty. It was rebuilt in 847 AD during the Dazhong period. After several ups and downs, it was rebuilt as a brick pagoda in 1275 AD. Today's Ashoka Pagoda is located in the courtyard of the Dai County Government. Only the gate of this ancient government office is still in its original style. 🚶‍♂️ Tour route: Confucian Temple🔜 Bianjing Tower🔜 Ashoka Pagoda, the three attractions are very close, the whole journey is about 1.6km, no backtracking. 🎫 Tickets: Bianjing Tower + Confucian Temple joint ticket 40r, you can climb the Bianjing Tower city wall, very worthwhile. 🕘 Tour time: 2-3 hours Dai County·Xinzhou