Legend of Yuanzhou Qiao Tower (third batch of provincial level) Chinese civilization has a long history, and several ancient cities have drum towers that bear witness to the traces of time; Yichun, Jiangxi is no exception. An ancient building called "Yuanzhou Qiao Tower" built in the Song Dynasty has been standing in the center of the city. It is the world's earliest existing local observatory that integrates the three functions of time measurement, timekeeping and time delivery, and is listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit. There have been moving stories about the origin of Yuanzhou Qiao Tower since ancient times. Yuan Tiangang was an astronomer in the Tang Dynasty. He was a strange man who was described as magical and could make clouds and rain. The Big Dipper was named after him. He lived in Yuanzhou, Yichun since he was a child. At that time, his family was still good, but he had no intention of seeking to be an official. Instead, he was fascinated by astronomy and geography. He thought about observing the sky and measuring the landforms all day long, studying the mysteries, and invented a sky-observing device called Tongxuanji. He wrote down his experience and predicted the weather to acquaintances many times. After his death, he was buried not far from the west side of the Yichun government office. In the second year of Baoda in the Southern Tang Dynasty (i.e., 954 AD), the people of Yichun built a ancestral hall to commemorate him. This is the original site of Yuanzhou Qiaolou. One day in the midsummer of the twelfth year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty (1219), Teng Qiangshu, the newly appointed prefect of Yuanzhou, hosted a dinner at home to entertain local celebrities. But the guests did not arrive until dark. Teng said, "Why are you here now? Look, the food is cold in this hot weather." The guest replied, "Didn't you say we were going to have dinner? We came as soon as it got dark." Teng smiled bitterly and pulled everyone to the time plate: "Look at what time it is! The length of day and night in summer and winter is just the opposite." Afterwards, Teng Qiangshu felt more and more that something was wrong. This was just dinner. If it happened to be military intelligence or something, it would really be a big mistake! So, the determination to build a complete Qiaolou for measuring and reporting time was made. When choosing the site, Prefect Teng thought of Yuan Tiangang Temple, so he started construction during the Mid-Autumn Festival of that year. The civil engineering project progressed quickly, but there was trouble when purchasing beams and columns. The people sent to select materials searched everywhere, but most of the 24 thick fir trunks they bought were not straight enough. Prefect Teng was very anxious, so he called the craftsmen to discuss a solution. A carpenter looked back and forth at the 24 pieces of wood and suggested: "People can hold heavy things with their hands spread out. If we divide these beams and columns together, they should also be able to support the house even if they are tilted." Everyone thought it made sense. So, the pattern of the eight eastern and eight middle columns tilting to the east and the eight western columns tilting to the west was formed, supporting the roof of the building with double eaves, which has always stood tall and has achieved a miracle in the history of architecture. After the completion of the watchtower, which covers an area of 780 square meters, is 23.3 meters wide and 12.8 meters high, and has a patrol corridor around it, copper pots, night sky pools, day sky pools, flat pots, water seas, shadow tables and other instruments were added, and yin and yang students took turns to be on duty, beating drums and ringing bells every day to tell the time. In this way, Yuanzhou had a unified time standard and China's earliest local observatory, which has a history of nearly 800 years. It is two centuries earlier than the observatory built during the Timurid Empire in Kazakhstan, and 76 years earlier than the observatory in Dengfeng, Henan, and has always been a legend.