Jinyan Tower is located on the Jinji Mountain, west of Chenxi County.

According to historical records, during the Wanli period (1573-1620) of the Ming Dynasty, Cao Xingjian, the county magistrate of Chenxi, observed the terrain and landscape of Chenxi County and concluded that the Jinji Mountain was “the county’s west gate”, but the river nearby ran through a low-lying ground, which was not conducive to the development of local culture and education according to geomancy theory. Building the Jinyan Tower was the solution, aiming to boost the development of education. The construction of the tower was completed in the 39th year of the Wanli period (1611). Cao Xingjian’s handwriting of the title of the tower and a poetic essay and poem celebrating the completion of tower were inscribed on the tower.

Besides building the Jinyan Tower, Cao Xingjian introduced new ways of collecting tax to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, which was welcomed by the locals.

This sympathetic magistrate attached great importance to the construction of Chenyang, the county town. Chenyang was troubled by floods due to its location at the confluence of the Yuan River and the Chen River. Cao Xingjian suggested local people to use stones instead of earth to build town walls in an effort to diminish the impact of floods, which later achieved great effect.

However, the Jinyan Tower was destroyed in the 1970s. In 2017, Chenxi County started to rebuild the tower on the original site.

The reconstruction of the tower was completed in 2020. The tower now is part of the Jinyan Park, a recreation destination for people living in the county town.

(Translated by Yang Hong)