Tashan Stone Pagoda (Writing Brush Pagoda), Ziyun County

Also known as the Writing Brush Pagoda, the Tashan Stone Pagoda stands atop a high mountain one kilometre southeast of Ziyun County seat. Standing on the summit, visitors enjoy an unobstructed panoramic view with surrounding mountains lying far below.

The pagoda was erected in the 49th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1784). There are three legends explaining its construction: First, the local terrain had excessive yin energy and insufficient yang energy. Since yin corresponds to the female element, the pagoda was built to suppress the negative energy and restore the balance of geomantic forces. Second, the hills around Ziyun lacked graceful contours, so the pagoda was added as an ornamental landmark to beautify the landscape. Third, Wufeng Mountain resembles a brush rack, Yin Mountain looks like an ink stick, the pagoda serves as a writing brush, the weir pond acts as an ink slab, and Youba Village near the East Gate represents paper. Together they form the Four Treasures of the Study to bless the region with literary prosperity, hence the name “Writing Brush Pagoda Guarding the County”.

This octagonal nine-storey pagoda rises more than 15 metres high with a perimeter of 17 metres. Each side of the ground floor measures roughly 2 metres. It is entirely built with hewn stone blocks. Every tier is fitted with chiselled stone eaves projecting about seven centimetres outwards. The tiers rise distinctly and taper gradually toward the top, capped with tile-shaped stone slabs and a separate stone spire.

Starting from the third floor, each of the eight sides of every tier is carved with an arhat statue in vivid, varied poses featuring elegant patterns. Embedded on the second storey is a stone tablet inscribed with the preface written by Zhang Kelun and Xi Songling from the Guihua Aboriginal Administration Office. After centuries of weathering, most of the inscription has peeled away, leaving the characters illegible and hard to verify.

Thanks to superb craftsmanship of the ancient stonemasons, the pagoda remains structurally solid to this day and has become a landmark enhancing the beauty of Ziyun mountain city.

From the pagoda, you can overlook the whole region: a stretch of fertile farmland lies in the front, the green Gengdan Reservoir stretches to the rear, pine trees roar on the left, and village smoke curls upward on the right. The Duyun-Anlong Highway winds westward into the county through Moshiguan Pass. Viewed from afar, the stone pagoda pierces straight into the sky, bringing to mind the poetic line: Its blade cleaves the blue firmament, yet remains intact.