The Story of Dingwang Tower in Changsha

(Translated from the Chinese version with the help of Claude.)

Speaking of Dingwang Tower in Changsha, I only knew it as a place to buy books, but today my mother told me a story that she tells every year to students who’ve just moved to Changsha for their studies:

During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Jing once wanted to sleep with one of his concubines after drinking, but unfortunately, she was indisposed at that time. The concubine commanded her maid to take her place. The emperor was drunk and didn’t notice the switch, and thus slept with the maid, resulting in pregnancy after just one encounter. (How similar to his grandfather Emperor Wen’s birth story!) Unfortunately, the mother’s status wasn’t elevated because of the son; instead, due to his mother’s humble origins, the son wasn’t favored by Emperor Jing. He was given the title of King of Changsha and, just like his grandfather, the unfavored son was sent to live far away.

This King of Changsha built a “Mother-Gazing Tower” on high ground in the eastern part of the city. When he missed his mother (oh, how timely for Mother’s Day!), he would climb the tower to gaze in the direction of Chang’an. After his death, he was posthumously titled as the “Stable King of Changsha,” and the tower was later called Dingwang Tower (“Stable King Tower”). It’s said that the king sent people to transport rice from Changsha to Chang’an and bring back soil from Chang’an to build this tower. I find this part a bit far-fetched. Of course, the Mother-Gazing Tower itself was largely performative. Even from a tower, you can’t see over a thousand kilometers away, no matter how high it is!

This King of Changsha wasn’t very important in history, but Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, was his direct descendant. It’s similar to Liu Bei claiming to be “a descendant of the Peaceful King of Zhongshan.”

Finally, Dingwang Tower was destroyed in the great fire of November 1938¹.