The Legend of Jinxianmen in Jieyang

There is a lot of information about the origin of Jinxianmen. Legend has it that during the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were seven famous sages in this area. With extraordinary wisdom, they decided that this place was suitable for building the city gate, so they carved a stone tablet of "Jinxianmen" and buried it underground. Hundreds of years later in the Ming Dynasty, there were seven famous sages here. They chose this place to build the city gate and thought, "Why didn't the sages find this treasure?" They dug up the stone tablet. Therefore, Jinxianmen is considered as an extraordinary city gate, which was set by the "first seven sages" and opened by the "last seven sages". The meaning of "Yang Xian" fully expresses a good wish of the people. However, because the stone tablet of "Jinxianmen" is not engraved, it is impossible to verify when it was engraved, which adds a bit of mystery to this building.

No matter whether Jinxianmen is really "unusual" as in the legend, Jieyang people's respect and love for it is true. In the 1940s, due to the transformation of the old city, the ancient city wall and the four gates of east, south, west and north were all demolished, leaving only Jinxian Gate, which shows its position in the eyes of Jieyang people. Now, it is the door of sages in our eyes.

According to legend, in the early years, local officials in Jieyang had to go through the Jinxian Gate to get off to a good start. Moreover, when a man gets married or a student goes to school in Jieyang, he has to go to a virtuous gate, saying that this will make his wife virtuous and his students go to high school. This custom has been maintained to this day, and parents often take their children who are about to enter the university around Jinxian Gate or around the tower several times.