Chengdu Wang Jiang Lou (Riverview Pavilion), China

> China Travel Tour Guide > Attractions

Riverview Pavilion (Wang Jiang Lou)

A famous lady poet Xue Tao of Tang Dynasty (618 ~ 907A.D.) once lived here, which makes this pavilion well known through out China. They called it Wang Jiang Lou (Riverview Pavilion).

Wang Jiang Lou consists of three pavilions Chongli Ger, Zhuijin Lou and Yinshi Lou. The structures we see today were rebuilt in the late Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 ~ 1911A.D.), now those terraces are one of the national preserve culture relics.

Chongli Ger, the highest pavilion of the three, this 30 meters high structure has four levels. Decorated with red walls, green color roof and picture-carved colored beams, even after many centuries, visitors can still enjoy the feeling of its grand and magnificent past.

Riverview Pavilion has a special shape, which makes it quite distinguished from other famous pavilions: the upper two levels are octagonal while the two lower levels are square. When you climb to the top floor, in front of your eyes, a clear view of the Jin Jiang River accompanied by a gentle breeze.

There is a deep well in the garden. It is special because Xue Tao once made her own writing paper using the water from this well. Since then, people called this well "The Well of Xue Tao", and the paper made from this area "the Paper of Xue Tao". Today, visitors can buy the similar paper products with her poems on it, in many bookstores in Chengdu City.

She loved the scenery of this pavilion, her family buried her here beside the Wang Jiang Lou. There is a garden near by hundred of different types of bamboo are the scenery there, which is why Riverview Pavilion is also called "Park of Bamboo".

History:

Xue Tao made a famous poem "Riverside", it revealed how she felt, when many nights she walk by the river or along in the pavilion:

"Swallows going south in pairs with the winter wind;
My feeling about this world is blue;
Don't want to write to anyone about the truth in my life;
Who will standby the river every night like I do."

Xue Tao knew how to write poems and even compose songs at a very young age. She wrote over five hundred poems, but only less than a hundred are known today. Many famous poets from her time had showed admiration about her poems, among them are Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen and Du Mu.