Tiáoxiàn

Tiáo was an old county on the plain of southeastern Hebei, near the Shandong border, and the seat of Jingzhou under the Yuan. Its name was written in several ways over the centuries, as the counties and prefectures around it were repeatedly redrawn. In the early Ming the county was absorbed into Jingzhou, which governed Wuqiao, Dongguang and Gucheng counties under Hejian Prefecture.

Above the town rose the Jingzhou pagoda, an octagonal brick tower of thirteen storeys. It was rebuilt in the Song style in 1079 and repaired by the Jin in 1139. In 1407 the Ming built Kaifu Temple around it, so the tower became the temple's reliquary pagoda. It was repaired again in 1517, and a later restoration found Ming woodblock sutras and a bronze reclining Buddha sealed in its finial.