Flower Opera Tower
The Flower Opera Tower, also known as the Song Stage, stands in the Daguandi Temple (Temple of Great Lord Guan) in the northwest of Boxian county seat. It was built particularly for opera performances in 1676 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) . The gate of the tower was built on an imitated wood structure in the form of a memorial archway with three roofs, and was engraved with exquisite patterns from top to bottom, including human figures, horse-drawn carts, cities, hills, trees, flowers, birds and beasts, as well as six complete texts of plays, in addition to a pair of 2.4-m-high stone lions crouching on both sides of the gate and two 16-m-high iron masts.
Facing the south, the tower houses a huge wooden stage supported by six columns. In the center of the stage is a folding screen with carvings of two dragons playing with a huge pearl. Two smaller viewing towers were built opposite the stage, each with two stories and six rooms. The tower is of great value to the study of architectural art and traditional opera of the early and mid Qing period.
