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Wooden Pagoda in Yingxian
County of Shanxi Province
The real name of the pagoda, located in
Fogong (Buddha's Palace) Temple in the northwestern corner
of the county town of Yingxian, is Sakyamuni Pagoda. Since
it was built completely of timber, it has been known popularly
as the Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County. Standing 67.31
meters high, it is the only extant large wooden pagoda in
China and also the tallest among ancient wooden buildings
of the world.
The pagoda was constructed in 1056 during
the Liao Dynasty. The pagoda was built on a stone platform
four meters high. Around the upper edge and at the corners
of the platform there are sculptures of crawling lions whose
simple and unsophisticated style belongs to the Liao Dynasty.
The exterior of the pagoda is divided into five levels,
but there are actually nine levels in the interior, including
four built-in storeys. The steeple of the pagoda is ten
meters high; the whole pagoda, 67.31 meters. The diameter
of the octagonal first storey is 30.27 meters, the longest
among ancient pagodas. The ground storey has two tiers of
eaves and steps attached to it. When people enter the southern
door of the pagoda, they see a statue of Sakyamuni about
ten meters high. The caisson ceiling is refined and beautifully
structured. On the inner walls are six pictures of Tathagata
in different poses. On the walls of the doorway are mural
paintings of warrior attendants, heavenly kings, and Buddhist
disciples. A painting of three female devotees on the wall
above the door is especially exquisite. All the statues
and murals have Liao Dynasty characteristics.
At the southwestern corner of the ground floor a wooden
staircase leads up to the second storey. From the second
storey up, each storey has windows facing in eight directions,
so people can have a clear view. There are also wide balconies
with banisters around each storey so people can enjoy a
panoramic view of Yingxian County Town, Mount Hengshan and
the Songgan River.
For nearly a thousand years the wooden pagoda has withstood
numerous strong earthquakes. According to historical records,
during a severe earthquake lasting seven days during the
reign of Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty the pagoda stood
firm. Though the Yingxian County area was affected by the
big earthquakes in Xingtai and Tangshan of Hebei Province
and in Helinger of Inner Mongolia in recent years, the wooden
pagoda did not suffer any damage. Tire pagoda's antiseismic
strength, proved by these earthquakes, demonstrated the
achievement of wooden structures in ancient China.
Since the founding of New China in 1949 the government has
dispatched many survey groups to look after the pagoda and
great efforts have been made to repair and reinforce the
structure. During a repair project in 1974 a number of important
and valuable cultural relics were found in the pagoda, including
a picture of medicinal herbs and Buddhist scriptures, all
belonging to the Liao Dynasty. Scripture scrolls include
both hand-written and block-printed ones; some of them are
more than thirty meters long when spread out and date back
to as early as 990, 1003 or 1071. They are regarded as rare
treasures both at home and abroad and provide important
data not only for the collating of Buddhist scriptures but
also for research of the development of printing technology
and cultural exchange between different nationalities in
China.
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