The origin of Yanggu Lion Tower

The Yanggu Lion Tower comes from the fact that Wu Song fought for his brother Ximen Qing:

It is said that during the reign of Renzong of Song Dynasty (1023 AD), Yanggu County had a prosperous population, prosperous business, and many shops. There is a Chinese medicine shop at the corner of Yanggu City West Street. The shop owner's name is Zhao Runchun, and he has no children except a daughter named Xiugu. The father and daughter run a drug store, and the business is going smoothly. Ximen Qing, a local bully, fell in love with Xiu Gu's beauty and sent people to kill Zhao Runsheng and occupy the drug store and Xiu Gu.

On the night of their wedding, Xiugu got Ximen Qing drunk in order to avenge her father's murder, locked her in the house, set fire to the house, and then committed suicide; however, Ximen Qing was not burned to death, and Yuanyang Pavilion in the West Garden But it turned into ashes.

In order to suppress evil and terror, Ximen Qing followed the advice of a Feng Shui master and built the Lion Tower. In front of the building, a pair of stone lions with red eyes and grinning teeth were carved. Later, Wu Song fought and killed Ximen Qing here to avenge his brother, making the Lion Tower famous all over the world.

Extended information

The Lion Tower is located in the southwest corner of Dayusou, Yanggu County. It was built in the third year of Song Dynasty and is now an important scenic spot on the Water Margin tourism line. Wu Song, the hero of "Water Margin", killed Ximen Qing here to avenge his brother, and the Lion Tower became famous all over the world. This building is a Song-style building with five bays on the second floor and three bays deep. It is majestic with blue bricks and gray tiles, cornices and brackets, carved beams and painted pillars. The building area is 451 square meters and the height is 15.8 meters.

There are two pairs of stone lions in the front of the building; inside the building are statues of Water Margin characters, lifelike and vivid. Contemporary celebrities Shen Yanbing, Liu Haisu, Li Kuchan, Gu Jiegang, etc. all wrote poems here.

Including: Wang Po Tea House, Wu Dalang’s House, Cold Tavern, Paper Making Shop, Ximen Pharmacy, Salt Shop, Wool Shop, Silk and Satin Shop, Inn, Lion Restaurant, Chess Club, Stage, Jade Emperor Temple, etc. . Large-scale festivals, temple fairs and other activities are held during the festival.

Daily entertainment projects include Shandong Kuaishu, Wuhan University Yunge Street performance, Yanggu style performance, lion dance, stilt walking, elderly Yangko performance, Henan Opera Troupe performance, folk juggling performance, sugar man performance, and calligraphy performance , handicraft making performances, etc. Among them, the images of Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian are generally welcomed by tourists and have become the biggest highlights of the scenic spot.