Why didn’t Kaifeng Iron Tower be mentioned when great literati in the Northern Song Dynasty wrote countless famous articles?

There is an old saying in the ancient city of Kaifeng: If you go to Henan without Kaifeng, you don’t have a visit to Henan; if you don’t go to Kaifeng without the Iron Tower, you don’t have a visit to Kaifeng. The Iron Tower is a landmark building in Kaifeng, and can even be said to be a symbol of Kaifeng. It has a prominent and eye-catching status. Moreover, the Iron Tower was built with money from the Northern Song Dynasty government, so it was built very quickly. However, in the Northern Song Dynasty, when the Iron Tower was just built, although the towering Iron Tower had a strong royal aura, the literati at that time generally did not buy the Iron Tower's account. Although many people in the past dynasties wrote poems describing the Tower, none of the great literati in the Song Dynasty wrote a word about the Tower. Ouyang Xiu only mentioned the wooden pagoda and the new pagoda in the proposal in "Return to the Fields", but the iron-colored glazed pagoda built subsequently seemed to be no longer worthy of his favor, and he did not even leave any words. Except for Ouyang Xiu, other literary figures in the Northern Song Dynasty, such as Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Che, Zeng Gong, etc., did not leave any words describing the iron tower. Facing the most glorious and tallest iron tower in Kaifeng, the capital at that time, the top literati of the Northern Song Dynasty actually turned a blind eye. This is really an interesting phenomenon.

Kaifeng’s iconic Iron Tower

In fact, not writing and ignoring was the attitude of the great literati in the Northern Song Dynasty towards the Kaifeng Iron Tower. Although the Iron Tower was a great architectural work completed during the Northern Song Dynasty, no great literati in the Northern Song Dynasty wrote anything about it. For example, Bai Juyi, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, lived in Longmen, Luoyang for a long time, but did not leave any writing related to the Longmen Grottoes. The great literati of the Northern Song Dynasty believed that the Iron Tower was a waste of money and people, and had objections to its construction. But the Iron Tower was built under the emperor's order. No matter how great the scholar was, it was hard to say anything, so everyone chose to remain silent. From the perspective of caring about the country and the people, the great literati in the Northern Song Dynasty believed that the Iron Tower was an excessively luxurious building with no practical value. It was a waste of manpower and financial resources. It was really a squandering and waste. However, the Iron Tower was built by the emperor and could not be discussed casually. Therefore, the great literati had to maintain collective silence about the Iron Tower. This may be the best way.

Li Mengyang, a great scholar of the Ming Dynasty, visited Kaifeng and saw the iron tower. He wrote a poem: The iron tower stands in the corner of the city, and Chuanping becomes more lonely. Climbing to the inner platform of the sky, the setting sun reflects on the East Lake. Li Mengyang also asked in his poem: In what year was the relic hidden? The brilliance shoots into nothingness. Li Lian, a native of Kaifeng who wrote the "Relics of Bianjing" in the Ming Dynasty, wrote about the iron tower: The pagoda rises from nothing, but it has only a few layers when you climb it.