Tengwang Pavilion

The Tengwang Pavilion, located on the bank of the Yangtze River, west of Nanchang City, is one of three famous pavilions south of the Yangtze River (the other two are Yueyang Tower in Yueyang and Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan).

The pavilion was built in AD 653, when Tengwang Li Yuanying (King Teng), a younger brother of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was the governor of Nanchang. It was destroyed and rebuilt as many as 28 times until it was burned to ashes in 1926. In 1989, the pavilion was rebuilt again according to the architectural style of the Song Dynasty. This nine-storied structure stands 57.5 meters in height and occupies a construction area of 13,000 square meters with a 12-meter-long base symbolic of ancient city walls. Made of reinforced cement, the pavilion, featuring flying eaves and engraved beams, looks quite splendid.

The reputation of Tengwang Pavilion, to a great extent, is due to a well-known text - "Preface to Tengwang Pavilion" by Wangbo. It was said that when the author, a reputable poet of the Tang Dynasty, passed Nanchang on his way to Guangdong, he wrote this prose on the subject of the banquet which was being held to celebrate the reconstruction of the pavilion.