By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there was a scholar named Zhao Dengxian living in the “village of seven towers” in Tugang of Jiangpu. This scholar became knowledgeable by reading some ancient books and ranked the top in the state examination and won the diploma of “tribute student”. When he reached the age of 40, he was reputed as "the top one writer out of seven great writers of Jianglingfu". He has no desire for the wealth, fame and gain brought by being a government official, so he gave up the position and fostered himself by teaching. He was such a righteous person that he would like to write poem and articles for other people to complain about the injustice. Once, there was an accident happened on the Qiba River where a bamboo raft of merchant had crashed into a rich man's boat. The rich bribed the local government official to convict the merchant of being guilty. The merchant had no choices but seeking Zhao Xiandeng for help. Zhao Xiandeng wrote such words in the petition: Raft flows swiftly just like mountain slide; boat sails flexibly like a bird. When these two run into each other, who should give way? ". The petition even made the judge think the merchant justifiable for the accident. As a result the merchant of raft won the lawsuit. Another time, a gangster intended to set the Li family up. He hanged up his wife who had died for giving birth, on the door lintel of the Li family with rope on a rainy night, and slandered that Li raped his wife and made her commit suicide. Zhang Dengxian didn't feel right about this event, so he wrote petition for the Li family, with a poem as follows: How come could the pregnant woman hang up her body by herself on the door lintel of eight feet high? Why the shoes are not muddy since it rained so heavily?" These two short sentences just pointed out the key of the case that made the gangster have no words to debate. At last it helped Li to redress the injustice. Since then, the big name of Zhao Dengxian was known for women and children. People from all sides rebuilt a local tower called "Qita" and made it taller in order to appreciate his kindness and show respects to his literary talent. The tower was dubbed as "the Pen of Zhao". Moreover, people also built up a stele in front of the tower with "the Ink of Zhao" marked on it. There was a mound not far away in the south, which was called "the Ink-Stone of Zhao" later; and several villages on the smooth land nearby were called "the Paper of Zhao". Now the tower and stele have disappeared, but those stories of Zhao are still in the memory of people.

Source: Pukou District Bureau of Cultural Affairs