Entity
Zhongxiang Wenfeng Stupa
Jingmen, Hubei, China
In 880 AD, during the Tang Dynasty, the rebel leader Huang Chao executed an eminent monk on the summit of Longshan. Legend says white milk flowed from the monk's neck. To honor him, locals built an earthen stupa called the White Milk Eminent Monk Stupa.
Five centuries later, during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty, builders encased this earthen core in solid blue brick and stone, coating the exterior in white wash. Local scholars and officials renamed it Wenfeng Stupa, shaping it to resemble a giant calligraphy pen pointing at the sky to inspire literary success.
This structure is a rare Tibetan-style bottle-shaped stupa serving as a literary monument. It stands over twenty-one meters tall. Beneath the octagonal, stepped base lies an unexcavated underground palace. Historical records state this sealed chamber holds a Buddhist statue, a spiritual bone of Master Bifeng, and twenty-two sacred relics, including those of Master Baida.
Above the base, the tower body curves like an inverted Buddhist alms bowl, bound by two gold rings. A stone-carved Buddha sits inside a niche on the southern face. On the eastern and western sides, stone tablets preserve the names of local donors who funded the construction.
The spire rises with twenty-one tapering phase wheels, a number far exceeding the traditional thirteen. Each layer features brick-carved faux bracket sets. At the summit, three copper circular canopies bear three embedded characters meaning 'Yuan'. Eight bronze bells hang from the corners, ringing in the mountain wind. A vertical iron halberd pierces a precious jewel at the very top, symbolizing the ultimate civil service exam triumph of Sanyuan Jidi.
In 1540, an imperial decree integrated the stupa into the Longshan Baoren Monastery. Late Qing Dynasty conflicts destroyed the temple. The stupa survived. It weathered a 1938 Japanese bombing that damaged its base, which workers restored in 1953. Today, the stupa remains a quiet landmark overlooking Jingyue Lake, carrying the physical marks of medieval bricklayers and the spiritual hopes of generations of scholars.