Chinese language schools in Kunming may introduce you the famous place of Guandu Ancient Town when you come to study in China. Guandu Ancient Town has a long history of more than four thousand years, and it is also one of the birth places of Yunnan culture. It is told in Chinese language school that in the ancient time of Nan Zhao Dali kingdom, Guandu was an important fortress of commercial activities and transportation in the area of the northeast Dian Chi Lake. There were people lived in Guandu four thousand years ago. Because Guandu was close to Dian Chi Lake geographically, ancestors there made their living by catching and selling snails. As time went by, shells of snails piled up like a small mountain, so Guandu were also called as “caves of snail shells”. Many of the ancient constructions exist now were built on those snails shells at the New Stone Age.
The history of Guandu should be covered in Chinese language school in Kunming. Before Song Dynasty, there was a ferry set up in the ancient Guandu, and the fishing boats and officers’ ships stopped at Guandu ferry and ride horses or took carriages to the inner part of Kunming. It was named as ferry for officers after these things. Students who study in Chinese language school may know to Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty; Guandu became a market town for commercial exchanges and handicraft industry. Nan Zhao kingdom set Tuo Dong City to the eastern coast of Dian Chi Lake and built a real ferry on caves of snail shells as a waterway for those officers who wanted to transfer to the western coast. Thus, Guandu got its name. As you study in Chinese language school, Guan means officers in Mandarin Chinese, and Du means ferry.
Guandu Ancient Town is located in the eastern part of Kunming, and about 5 km to the center of Kunming city. After you studying in Chinese language school, it takes you only half an hour to go to the place. There are a lot of historical sites and cultural heritages in the ancient town. With its land area of less than 1.5 square km, Guandu has mountains and temples originated to Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Teachers from Chinese language school may tell you Jin Gang Tower is the most well known sites in Guandu Ancient Town. The tower is listed in the state-level key protection units. It is the earliest built, perfectly preserved throne type stone tower in existence. Jin Gang tower was constructed in 1457 on piles of snail shells. If you come to study in China, you should really go to the place. In the process of lifting the tower, engineers and technicians of Hebei Constructing and Research Institute found that when ancient people built the tower, there was not cement. In order to build the tower, local people used the mixture of snail shells and black plaster to form the foundation of Jin Gang Tower. Then they stroke hundreds of stakes to fasten the foundation and employed the compound of sticky rice and red soil as under layer to build the tower layer upon layer. It is said in Chinese language school that in order to build the tower, sticky rice from thousands of households were used up.
Jin Gang Tower is in the south of Guandu Ancient Town. Its pagoda is a square terrace, and below the terrace, there are lanes and holes opened to all directions. Teachers from Chinese language school may give you more detail about the tower. It is also said the hole was large enough for a horse to pass through. Later, holes were filed by soil because of the increase of terrace. In 1987, local government repaired the tower and the holes appeared again.
Except for the Jin Gang Tower, there are also other provincial and municipal heritage units in Guandu Ancient Town, such as Miao Zhan Temple, Tu Zhu Temple, Fa Ding Temple, Wen Ming Attic, Kui Xing Attic, Guan Yin Temple, Ling Yun Attic, San Sheng Palace, Ran Deng Temple and Wu Gu Temple.