Jīntǎ

Jinta took its name from the Buddhist stupa at Tayuan Temple, northeast of Jiuquan in the Hexi Corridor. Its foundation date is uncertain, despite traditions assigning it a much earlier origin. A temple account inscribed in 1732 recalled that a fort established in 1592 had been named Jinta Temple Fort after the existing tower. The fort therefore provides a firmer chronological marker than the legends of the monument's beginnings. The local historical literature describes a Tibetan-style, bowl-shaped stupa with a square base and rising tiers above the rounded body. Ming writings already treated the solitary tower as a landmark, and it became one of the celebrated sights of Suzhou. The surrounding fort also contained other shrines, including a temple to Guandi. Ming-period scriptures recovered from the tower during later repairs offer additional evidence of its religious use. Here a Buddhist monument, a fortified settlement and the landscape of the Gansu frontier became closely joined in a single place-name.