The four famous towers of China all feel inferior!

"The Number One Wooden Tower in China" is so beautiful yet so low-key, a national treasure that must be seen in this lifetime. When it comes to the "Four Great Ancient Towers of China," every middle and elementary school student knows them by heart. However, if we set aside their spokespersons and literary works and focus solely on the architecture itself, none of today's "Four Great Ancient Towers of China" are truly deserving of their names anymore. Fan Zhongyan's Yueyang Tower, which embodies the spirit of 'worrying before the world worries, and enjoying only after the world enjoys,' Cui Hao's Yellow Crane Tower with 'the white clouds drifting freely for a thousand years,' Wang Bo's Pavilion of Prince Teng where 'the setting sun and the solitary wild duck fly together, and the autumn water shares the same color with the sky,' and Wang Zhihuan's Stork Tower, where 'one wishes to see a thousand miles further, and climbs up one level higher,' have all disappeared into the river of history. What we see today, except for the Yueyang Tower built in the late Qing Dynasty that can still be considered an ancient building, the other three towers are all modern constructions of steel and concrete. In front of the authentic ancient Feiyun Tower in Wanrong County, Shanxi Province, these towers, whether compared in historical age or architectural craftsmanship, are all inferior and not on the same level. The four famous towers of Shanxi version, the Feiyun Tower of Dongyue Temple in Wanrong, the Qiufeng Tower of Houtu Temple in Wanrong, the Xuanjian Tower of the old city of Yuci, and the Xian Shen Tower of Jiexiu, may not be as well-known due to the lack of endorsement by famous people and works, but they are all genuine ancient wooden structures, representing the superb level of ancient Chinese craftsmen's architectural skills. Each one commands respect. Located in front of the Dongyue Temple in Wanrong County, Shanxi Province, the Feiyun Tower is a pure wooden structure. Like the Wooden Pagoda in Ying County, it is built from bottom to top without a single nail and is known as "The Number One Wooden Tower in China," alongside the Wooden Pagoda in Ying County, which is referred to as "the southern tower and the northern pagoda." The predecessor of Wanrong County was Wanquan County and Ronghe County. When the two counties merged, the first characters of their names were combined to form the new Wanrong County, with the county seat set in Jiedian Town. The exact year of the construction of Feiyun Tower is unknown. Because it is located in Jiedian Town, it was originally named Jiedian Tower, and the existing building is of Ming and Qing styles. Legend has it that in the second year of Wude during the Tang Dynasty (619 AD), the 20-year-old Prince Li Shimin led his army to cross the Yellow River and launched the key battle of 'Baibi Battle' to eliminate the separatist forces of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. After the victory, Li Shimin built music towers and temples in the three places where he stationed his troops to showcase his military achievements. Today, only the Feiyun Tower in Wanrong County stands tall in the city of Wanrong. The Feiyun Tower is 23 meters high, with three visible and five hidden levels, a total of four layers of eaves, 12 triangular roof sides, and 32 roof corners. From all directions, each layer is a beautiful and spectacular Xieshan-style building. Standing at the base of the tower, one can see the bottom space filled with wooden columns, four spliced columns that reach the top of the tower, ingeniously connected with the surrounding 32 columns in a chessboard pattern. The entire Feiyun Tower is like an inseparable organic whole, solid and stable, with the overall structure largely maintaining its original appearance after construction. The interior of the tower is densely packed with dougong brackets, exquisite and intricate, with more than 300 sets of dougong brackets encompassing 23 types of forms, yet without a sense of complexity and chaos. Looking at them, they are like clouds surrounding or like flowers blooming, with the eaves and upturned corners resembling birds ready to soar and strike the sky, exquisitely beautiful. No wonder the ancients praised it as 'connecting to the cloud paths above, overlooking the groundless below, with layered eaves and stacked corners, like leather yet as if flying, painted rafters and carved beams, shining in the moon and reflecting the stars'.