Puzhou has the national treasure Iron Ox, the ruins of the ancient city, Puji Temple, and Guanque Tower.

The Puzhou Puzhou Ferry Site is located outside the west gate of the ancient city of Puzhou, 18 kilometers southwest of Yongji City, Shanxi Province. According to historical records, a floating bridge was built during the Qin Dynasty, and later the Eastern Wei, Western Wei and Sui dynasties all built floating bridges here. In the sixth year of Kaiyuan Period of Tang Dynasty (718 AD), Puzhou was established as Zhongdu. In the twelfth year of Kaiyuan Period (724 AD), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty appointed Minister of War Zhang Shuo to be in charge of the project. He replaced wooden piles with iron oxen, ropes with iron chains, dredged the space between ships, and devoted national strength to carry out a large-scale reconstruction of Puzhou Bridge. Four iron oxen were cast on each bank of the Yellow River to maintain the bridge. There is an iron man next to each cow, and there are two iron mountains. In August 1989, the Iron Ox and Iron Man were unearthed. The iron oxen are rare in the country due to their large size, heavy weight, large number, exquisite craftsmanship and early history, and are known as national treasures.
The ruins of the ancient city of Puzhou still retain the outline of the earthen city walls, and the remains of the drum tower and the south, west and north gates inside the city are clearly visible.
The founding date of Puji Temple is unknown. It was expanded during the Sui and Tang dynasties and renovated from the Song to the Qing dynasties. It was destroyed by fire in the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920), and only the brick tower built in the forty-first year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1562) remains. The rest of the buildings were built in the 1980s. Puji Temple is the setting for the stories of the Tang Dynasty vernacular novel “The Story of Yingying” and the Yuan Dynasty drama “The Romance of the West Chamber”.
The Stork Tower, also known as the Stork Tower. The Guanque Tower was first built in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It was destroyed by fire in the first year of Jin Yuanguang (1222) and was rebuilt in the late 1990s. This tower became famous through the ages due to the poem "Climbing the Stork Tower" by the Tang poet Wang Zhihuan. It can be said that the building is named after the poem.
Climbing the Stork Tower Wang Zhihuan
The sun sets behind the mountains, and the Yellow River flows into the sea.
If you want to see further, you must climb to a higher level.

Post by Vincenzo Waters | Mar 12, 2025