Dream of Bianliang (IX) - The Po Tower of Kaifeng

The Po Tower, here 'Po' is not pronounced as 'fan', but as 'po' with the second tone. In the Chinese dictionary, this pronunciation is meant for surnames. Since the Po Tower was built on top of the Po Platform, it was thus named. The original name of Po Tower was Xingci Tower, which was the first Buddhist pagoda built in Kaifeng and is also one of the oldest existing buildings in the Kaifeng area, serving as a typical transition from a square-shaped pagoda to an octagonal-shaped pagoda. The tower was constructed in the seventh year of the Kaibao era of the Northern Song Dynasty (974 AD) and continued to receive donations for its construction until the first year of the Chunhua era (990 AD), and even during the Xianping era. Initially, the Po Tower had nine levels and was about 76 meters high. It was truncated at the waist at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and now only three levels remain, with a total height of about 36.68 meters. The body of the tower is inlaid with more than 7,000 Buddha bricks, each brick featuring a Buddha, which is quite spectacular. There are 199 existing stone carvings on the entire tower, including 187 with inscriptions, making it a vast treasury of calligraphy. Due to the long construction period and the multitude of carvings, the inscribed sutras and titles within the Po Tower comprehensively cover the original appearance of the calligraphy of Kaifeng, the capital of the early Northern Song Dynasty, and have high research value, holding a certain position in the history of Chinese calligraphy. 📌TIPS: 📍Location: Search for Po Tower in the navigation system. 💰Ticket: 15 yuan per person (purchase on-site), not participating in the free ticket campaign initiated by Henan. ⏰️Tour Duration: About 1 hour. 🅿️Parking: There is an open space at the entrance of the scenic area, where parking is currently free. 🚎Transportation: Bus routes 8 and 12 are available. 🔶The second floor of the tower chamber is closed and not open to the public; only the interior structure of the tower can be appreciated on the first floor.