大理崇圣寺三塔英语导游词

　　Dali is a beautiful city on the western Yunnan Plateau. It is the mainresidence of Bai nationality. It is one of the first batch of nationalhistorical and cultural cities approved by the State Council. It is also anational key scenic spot.

　　Dali was called Yeyu in ancient times, which was named after Duan Siping,the leader of Baiman in the Five Dynasties, who established Dali state. In Tangand Song Dynasties, Dali was the political, economic and cultural center ofYunnan.

　　The scenic spots of Dali include Cangshan Mountain, Erhai Lake, ancientcity and butterfly spring. Today we are going to visit the Three Pagodas ofChongsheng temple, which has become a symbol of Dali tourism.

　　General situation of Chongsheng Temple

　　Chongsheng temple is located 1.5km north of Dali ancient city, adjacent toErhai Lake in the East and yingle peak in Cangshan Mountain in the West.

　　Chongsheng temple was built in the later period of Nanzhao state, duringthe reign of the tenth generation of Nanzhao king quanfengyou (824-859). Aftercompletion, it was the center of Buddhist activities in Nanzhao state and Dalistate, and became a famous royal temple in Dali state. Therefore, Chongshengtemple has the reputation of "Buddha capital".

　　Chongsheng temple, also known as the three pagodas temple, is the threepagodas Temple written by Xu Xiake, a traveler of Ming Dynasty, in his diariesof traveling to Yunnan, and the Tianlong Temple mentioned by Jin Yong, a masterof modern martial arts fiction, in his eight chapters of Tianlong. Themagnificent architecture of Chongsheng temple was burned down in the Tongzhiperiod of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty, and only the three pagodas remainedintact.

　　"Sheng" in Chongsheng Temple refers to Guanyin. The worship of Guanyin isvery popular in Dali. The annual March street is also called Guanyin street."Continued Yunnan Tongzhi" records: "there are three pagodas in front ofChongsheng temple. There is a statue of Guanyin in the temple. It is two Zhangand four feet high. It was cast by Dong Shanming in Tang and Mengdynasties."

　　In March 1961, it was announced by the State Council as one of the firstbatch of key cultural relics protection units in China. In 20__, it was rated asnational AAAA tourist area.

　　Chongsheng temple is here. Please follow me out.

　　Basic knowledge of tower

　　Entering the gate, we can clearly see the three towers above the steps. Thelarger one in the front square is called Qianxun tower, and the smaller one atthe back on both sides.

　　Originated in India, the pagoda was first used as a Buddhist relic in theshape of a semicircular tomb. After it was handed down to China, it combinedwith traditional Chinese architecture and evolved into a variety of forms, suchas Pavilion style, close eaves style, covered bowl style, King Kong throne styleand so on. The three towers we see now are of close eaves type.

　　In addition to the three pagodas, there are also one pagoda and snake bonepagoda.

　　Chihiro tower

　　The full name of Qianxun pagoda is "Dharma Realm Tongling Mingdao Chengta".It was built in Nanzhao quanfengyou period of Tang Dynasty. It is said that ittook Gongtao and Huiyi craftsmen 48 years to design and build it.

　　Qianxun tower stands on a two-story tall platform. It is 69.13 meters highand has 16 floors. It is a rare even number tower with more floors in China.

　　The structure of the tower is a hollow brick tower with dense eaves andhollow core. In ancient times, there were well shaped stairs for people toclimb.

　　From bottom to top, it is composed of tower base, tower body and towerbrake. There is a white marble Buddha statue in the niche, and the niches onboth sides are window openings. The direction of the window openings on the twofloors is staggered alternately to facilitate the lighting and ventilation inthe tower, and the staggered opening of windows is conducive to the firmness ofthe tower.

　　From the third and fourth floors, the eaves of the pagoda graduallyconverge inward, and finally converge at the top of the pagoda. The outline ofthe pagoda body is not a rigid straight line upward, but a curve of adductionupward and downward and slightly convex in the middle. Its shape is similar tothat of Xi'an small wild goose pagoda.

　　Once upon a time, there was a bronze golden winged bird in each corner ofthe top of the tower, which was said to be used to suppress the dragon, demonand water monster in Erhai Lake.

　　Zhaobi

　　There is a Zhaobi on the east side of the pagoda. On the Zhaobi there arefour regular script characters of "Yongzhen mountains and rivers", each of whichis 1.7 meters high. It was written by Mu Shijie, the Duke of Qian state in MingDynasty.

　　There are two reasons for these four words: one is that there are manyfloods in Dali, "Yongzhen mountains and rivers" is intended to subdue thefloods, and the Dapeng golden winged bird on the top of the tower is also athing to subdue the dragon; the other is that after Dali was incorporated intothe territory of the Ming Dynasty, "Yongzhen mountains and rivers" under thetitle of Qian Guogong (mu Shijie, the grandson of Mu Ying), who guarded Yunnan,was intended to defend Yunnan mountains and rivers to the death.