【Guess the Scenic Spot by the Sea】A building has stood for 800 years, with its pillars holding it up despite being tilted in all directions

The crooked pillars have supported it for eight hundred years

Waste utilization by engineers in those days: Yichun City in Jiangxi Province, renowned as a region with a rich cultural heritage, boasts numerous historical sites. The Yichun Drum Tower, located in the middle section of Gulou Road, was built by Teng Qiangshu, the governor of Yuanzhou, in the 12th year of the Jiading era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1219). It was part of the Yuanzhou government complex; as it also served as a watchtower for observing celestial phenomena and determining time, it was also known as the Yuanzhou Watchtower. This magnificent and simple building is also the earliest existing local observatory in the world. In the 1990s, experts determined that the Yichun Drum Tower is approximately 50 years older than the previously recognized oldest local observatory in China – the ancient observatory in Dengfeng, Henan – and even two centuries older than the world’s oldest local observatory in Uzbekistan. On the upper floor, there are 15 ancient astronomical instruments, including armillary spheres, gnomons, astrolabes, and four-tiered bronze water clocks; later, a bronze Xuanji instrument developed by the Tang Dynasty astronomer Yuan Tiangang was also cast. It is worth noting that the time measured using instruments such as the \"four-stage bronze water clock\" differs from the current standard time by only 20 seconds per day. Yuan Tiangang, an astronomer from the late Sui and early Tang periods, was once an advisor to Emperor Taizong of Tang. It is said that he was buried not far from the Drum Tower in Yichun, and in the year 954, the local people built a memorial hall there in his honor. And this ancestral hall is precisely the former site of Yichun Drum Tower. A statue of Yuan Tiangang is still enshrined in the building to this day. It is said that when the Yichun Drum Tower was being built, difficulties arose (as the 24 pieces of wood purchased for use as pillars were not straight enough). A craftsman suggested grouping these columns together naturally, just like two open palms, which can also support the roof. As a result, the current configuration was formed, with one pillar leaning eastward and the other leaning westward.

It should be; I think it’s a replica

This post was last edited by “Finding Direction While Walking” on September 9, 2018, at 09:36. The armillary sphere has a sundial