Hongtong Big Pagoda Tree Root-Seeking and Ancestor-Worshipping Garden Scenic Area

Spring & Summer: 6:30 – 20:00 Autumn & Winter: 7:30 – 18:00

50 RMB; an additional 50 RMB for guided tour service.

Telephone: 0357-2015547 Address: No. 002 Gongyuan Street, North Guhuai Road, Hongtong County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province

Summer is the best season for traveling in Shanxi Province.

0357-2015547

Local Transport: Take a minibus bound for Hongtong from Linfen Bus Station. Upon arriving at Hongtong Bus Station, you can take Bus No.1 or a taxi to reach the scenic area.

The scenic spot sits beside Guangji Temple, 2 kilometres northwest of downtown Hongtong County. According to legend, the ancient pagoda tree was planted in the Han Dynasty. The tree is closely linked to the ancient resettlement policy in China. During the Yuan Dynasty, continuous wars ravaged the Yellow River and Huaihe River basins, leading to a sharp population decline in Shandong, Henan, Hebei and other regions. In contrast, Hongtong in central Shanxi remained peaceful and became a densely populated settlement. In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial government decided to relocate residents from this area to repopulate surrounding provinces. An immigration office was set up next to Guangji Temple. Before leaving, migrants plucked leaves from the big pagoda tree as souvenirs of their hometown.

There are no grand buildings here, yet tourists keep coming all year round, in bitter winter and scorching summer alike. Some write poems and inscriptions to express their longing for ancestral roots. Others gaze up at the ancient tree, lingering reluctantly.

Toward the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court waged constant foreign wars and imposed ethnic oppression domestically. Coupled with successive floods and famines along the Yellow and Huai River valleys, uprisings of the Red Turban Army broke out and lasted for more than ten years. The Yuan government suppressed the rebels brutally. Fierce battles caused heavy casualties; seventy to eighty percent of local residents in Huaihe, Shandong, Hebei and Henan lost their lives. Before the region could recover from wartime devastation, the Jingnan Campaign broke out right after the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Hebei, Shandong, Henan and Anhui suffered severely and were nearly depopulated. Meanwhile, Shanxi, protected by mountains and rivers and ruled by the Mongolian warlord Chaghan Temur and his son, stayed relatively stable. The province enjoyed good weather and bumper harvests year after year. Compared with neighbouring provinces, Shanxi boasted a prosperous economy and a booming population. Large numbers of refugees also poured in from other provinces, making Shanxi one of the most populous regions. After overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming imperial government launched eight large-scale migration campaigns over more than fifty years, from the early Hongwu reign to the 15th year of the Yongle reign, in order to consolidate state power and boost agricultural development.

Southern Shanxi had the densest population in the province, and Hongtong was its most populous county. Historical records show that outside the north city gate of Hongtong, west of Jia Village, stood the magnificent Guangji Temple with numerous monks and pilgrims. Beside the temple grew a Han-dynasty pagoda tree with thick trunks and a sprawling canopy shading several mu of land. A main carriage road ran beneath its branches. Many kites built nests on the tree, forming a spectacular sight. The Ming government stationed officials at Guangji Temple to handle immigration formalities, and the big pagoda tree became the assembly point for migrants.

In late autumn when pagoda leaves fell, the kite nests on the tree stood out clearly. Before departure, migrants stared at the towering ancient tree. The kites on the branches kept crying mournfully. Many migrants shed tears, looking back repeatedly until only the kite nests on the treetop came into sight. Since then, the big pagoda tree and the kite nests have become symbols of parting with hometown. A folk ballad has been widely passed down for hundreds of years across the country: If you ask where my ancestors came from,

They came from beneath the Big Pagoda Tree in Hongtong, Shanxi.

If you ask where their hometown lay,

It was right under the kite nests on the tree. (Villagers in my hometown say our village was resettled from this place to garrison the northern border, and our family genealogy dates back exactly to that migration.)

Most migrants leaving Hongtong in the early Ming Dynasty settled in Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Beijing, Anhui, Jiangsu and Hubei. A small number moved to Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. Later, many of these migrants moved further to Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Xinjiang and northeastern provinces. Such large-scale, long-distance organized migration was rare in Chinese history. It is almost unprecedented that people from one single region were dispersed across the whole nation. Although the Ming migration policy was designed to consolidate feudal rule, it objectively eased social conflicts, boosted farmers’ enthusiasm for production, revived agriculture, strengthened frontier defence and maintained social stability.

In the second year of the Republic of China, Jing Daqi, a native of Jia Village who had served as an official in Shandong, returned home after retirement. He raised funds to build a stele pavilion and a teahouse right on the site of the ancient big pagoda tree. The delicate pavilion features carved beams, upturned eaves and intricate brackets. A bluestone tablet inside bears five official-script characters: Site of the Ancient Big Pagoda Tree. The back of the tablet is inscribed with a brief account of the immigration history. To the west in front of the pavilion stand three teahouse rooms for root-seeking visitors to rest and taste tea. The horizontal plaque above the gate reads: When drinking water, remember its source. More than twenty metres south of the stele pavilion stands a memorial archway. One side is carved with Fame Endures for the Noble Tree, and the other with Blessings Descend upon All Living Beings. In the early 1980s, the Hongtong County government renovated and expanded the Big Pagoda Tree Park.

Many legends about the migration are still popular here. After the 1911 Revolution, Yuan Shikai ordered Zhang Xiluan, Governor of Shanxi, to lead Lu Yongxiang’s army to attack the revolutionary forces in Shanxi. The soldiers looted everywhere they went. When they arrived at the ancient pagoda tree site in Hongtong, they all dismounted and bowed respectfully. They told one another: “We have come back to our ancestral home.” Instead of looting, they made offerings under the tree. People praised the pagoda tree for warding off disasters.

According to legend, officers cut a small notch on the little toenail of every migrant as a mark. To this day, descendants of these migrants all have split little toenails. If you are a descendant of the ancient pagoda tree migration,

Take off your shoe and check your toenail shape. You may check your own toenail if you are interested.