Sanrang Pavilion is located on the eastern shore of Yunlong Lake and on the western foot of Yunlong Mountain in Xuzhou City, approximately 100 meters above Liu Bei Spring on the hillside. The pavilion has an equilateral triangular shape, with a triangular roof supported by three pavilion columns, featuring eaves and brackets, presenting a unique style. Below the eaves, a wooden plaque is hung, inscribed with the three large characters ‘Sanrang Pavilion’. The architectural style of Sanrang Pavilion is distinctive, breaking the domestic architectural convention of ’round sky and square earth’, which is quite rare. According to historical records: in the second year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, 191 AD, Tao Qian from Danyang County served as the governor of Xuzhou. At that time, war was rampant, and the people were suffering. To protect the people of Xuzhou from disaster, Tao Qian sincerely invited Liu Bei to be the governor of Xuzhou three times, all of which were declined by Liu Bei. In the fourth year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Tao Qian died at the age of sixty-three, and Liu Bei officially took over as the governor of Xuzhou, later establishing the Shu Han regime with the assistance of Zhuge Liang. To commemorate Tao Qian’s style of yielding to the virtuous and protecting the homeland, loving the people as his own children, and to learn from Liu Bei’s modest and cautious behavior, refusing to accept the salary, the ‘Sanrang Pavilion’ was built on the western foot of Yunlong Mountain today. The pavilion is built along the hillside with sixty-three steps, divided into three levels, symbolizing Tao Qian’s yielding to the virtuous three times before the age of sixty-three, and Liu Bei’s subsequent appointment as the governor of Xuzhou.
The cultural connotation of Sanrang Pavilion far exceeds its own existence. The historical anecdote of Tao Qian ‘yielding Xuzhou three times’ has been widely spread by literati and poets, becoming a model for people today to learn from.
Sanrang Pavilion
Sanrang Pavilion is located on the eastern shore of Yunlong Lake and on the western foot of Yunlong [...]
