Autumn-Admiring Pavilion or Aiwan Pavilion () is a Chinese pavilion on Mount Yuelu, in

Yuelu District Yuelu District () is one of six urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, China. It is the 4th most populous district (after Heshan, Dingcheng and Yueyanglou Districts) in Hunan. The district is ...

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a popul ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

. Alongside the Zuiweng Pavilion, Taoran Pavilion and Huxin Pavilion, it is one of the Four Great Pavilions of

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

History

The Autumn-Admiring Pavilion was first constructed with the name of Red Leaves Pavilion () in 1792 in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736–1796) by , the then president of

Yuelu Academy The Yuelu Academy (also as known as the ''Yuelu Academy of Classical Learning'', ) is on the east side of Yuelu Mountain in Changsha, Hunan province, on the west bank of the Xiang River. As one of the four most prestigious academies over the las ...

. And later (1730–1797),

Viceroy of Huguang The Viceroy of Huguang, fully referred to in Chinese as the Governor-General of Hubei and Hunan Provinces and the Surrounding Areas; Overseeing Military Affairs, Food Production; Director of Civil Affairs, was one of eight regional Viceroys in C ...

, changed its name to Autumn-Admiring Pavilion. It is cited from the verses of that "I stop my carriage to admire the maple trees at nightfall, whose frosty leaves are redder than the flowers of early spring." () by

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

(618–907) poet

Du Mu Du Mu (; 803–852) was a Chinese calligrapher, poet, and politician who lived during the late Tang dynasty. His courtesy name was Muzhi (), and art name Fanchuan (). He is best known for his lyrical and romantic quatrains. Regarded as a maj ...

(803–852). When

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

studied at

Hunan First Normal University Hunan First Normal University (), founded in 1903, is a university located in Yuelu District, Changsha, Hunan Province, China. Hunan First Normal University covers a total area of 1346 mu, with more than 420,000 square meters of floor space. Th ...

, he often comes here with his friends, searching of the truth salvaging the country. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

(1937–1945), the pavilion was devastated by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. After the establishment of the Communist State in 1952, the government of Hunan reconstructed the pavilion. In 1987, the pavilion was completely restored by the government. The pavilion has been designated among the seventh group of "

Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Hunan Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

" by the State Council of China in 2013.

Architecture

The current Autumn-Admiring Pavilion is of pure stone structure. The roof is covered with green glazed tiles. It has two layers of overhanging eaves, eight

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

hypostyle columns in the pavilion. Right above the pavilion, there is a big caissons (). In the center of the second floor of the pavilion is a red stele, on which there are the words "Autumn-Admiring Pavilion" (), written by

in 1952. The stone is engraved with a couplet in Chinese characters: "". '' Acer palmatum'' in autumn is a major attraction of Autumn-Admiring Pavilion.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Autumn-Admiring Pavilion Pavilions Buildings and structures in Changsha Tourist attractions in Changsha Yuelu District Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Hunan