Weishan Xinggong Tower

In 1390, during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty, builders raised a monument at the exact intersection of Weishan Ancient City's four main streets. This was the Xinggong Tower, also known as the Wenbi or Zhonggu Tower. The surrounding city was planned in a strict checkerboard grid, shaped like a square official seal. The four outer gates formed the body of the seal, while this central tower rose as its handle.

The structure stands eleven meters tall, anchored by a heavy brick-and-stone base. This base measures 6.3 meters high and 18.7 meters in width and depth. Four vaulted arched passageways cut through the stone, channeling the mountain winds and the footsteps of travelers. Above this cool stone foundation rests a wooden pavilion, measuring 9.75 meters square. Its timber frame combines post-and-lintel and column-and-tie systems, supporting a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof.

The tower's history is written in ash and ink. After a major reconstruction in 1711, fire consumed the original timber during the regional turmoil of 1857. In 1860, Ma Guozhong, a general in Du Wenxiu's rebel army, directed its reconstruction. High on the top floor ridgepole, carpenters left an ink inscription marking this Taisui rebuilding period, a physical trace of wartime survival.

Four hand-painted plaques hang on the lower eaves, facing the cardinal directions to describe the surrounding landscape. The eastern plaque reads Rui Ai Hua Feng, evoking auspicious mists. The southern plaque, Wei Xia Yong He, describes rosy clouds welcoming cranes. The western plaque reads Yu Huan Gua Pu, and the northern plaque reads Cang Ying Pan Long. On the northern upper eave, the main plaque bears the name Xinggong Tower.

Today, visitors walk through the cool, shadowed stone arches, touching the chisel marks left by Ming and Qing masons. To preserve the ancient timber, the wooden upper pavilion is closed to the public. The stone base remains an active center of community life. Local residents hang public notices on the brick walls, and during the annual Yi Torch Festival, the surrounding streets fill with the scent of burning pine and the glow of sparks, connecting modern lives to a six-hundred-year-old anchor.