Pingshan Park locates in Fuzhou’s Gulou District. The park is located at the northern part of Pingshan Mountain, which one of the three mountains in Fuzhou. The mountain is 62 meters high. The shape of the mountain looks like a big screen, hence the name.
Pingshan Park was built in 1986, covering a total area of 9.4 hectares. The local villagers in Quantang Village, Hongshan Township bulldozed the “garbage mountain” to build the park. The park has typical scenery like most southern cities in China. Nearly 4,000 shrubs of more than 100 species are scattered throughout the park. The 5,000-square-meter lawn creates the unique greenery of the park. The newly-paved winding stone paths in the park lead to the secluded quiet place.
Highlight at Pingshan Park
The Zhenhai Tower on the mountain was built in 1371 of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was once known as the nine famous towers in China together with the Yellow Crane Tower, Yueyang Tower, Yanyu Tower, etc. It is also known as one of the three famous towers in the southeast of China.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was sea warfare from time to time in Fuzhou. In order to defend against the invasion of the Japanese pirates and to protect the security of the locals, Wang Gong, was ordered to solid of the city in 1371. The city was reconstructed to be surrounded by the stone walls.
When building the Fuzhou City, Wang Gong first built a Yang Tower on the top of Pingshan Mountain as kind of gate tower. The Yang Tower is two-story, which is about 20 meters high. There are seven stone cylinders in the square in front of the building, arranged like the Big Dipper Seven Stars. The tower was the tallest building in Fuzhou at that time, which was recognized as the symbol of the city. Looking from the tower, people can see the Minjiang River in distance. So, it is also called Zhenhai Tower. When the ships sailed into Minjiang River at night, they all used the Zhenhai Tower as the navigation mark in the past.
Unfortunately, the tower was destroyed over the years. Zhenhai Tower was rebuilt on the original site in December 2006. The main project was completed by the end of 2007. The reconstructed Zhenhai Tower covers an area of 4,200 square meters, with a height of 23.9 meters and a width of 43.5 meters, which basically maintains the original architecture style.