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Anyone who knows a little about ancient architecture knows that there is a Liao Dynasty wooden pagoda in Shanxi, Yingxian Wooden Pagoda. Yingxian Wooden Pagoda is located in Fogong Temple in the northwest of Ying County, Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province. It is a common name for "Shakya Pagoda of Fogong Temple". I came here in 2009 to see the magic of this "three strange towers in the world" together with the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower.

In August 2009, the ticket for the Wooden Pagoda in Ying County, Shanxi is 60 yuan

Yingxian Wooden Pagoda was initiated by the queen of Liao Xingzong who was born in Yingzhou (northern Shanxi). It was built in the second year of Liao Qingning (AD 1056). It was used by the enemy, so it was called "Jincheng Shulou". It was completed in the sixth year of Jin Mingchang (AD 1195). It is the tallest and oldest wooden tower building in China.

The "tower" is an imported product, which is different from the "Ge" of high-rise buildings in China. The original prototype of the pagoda is the "studpo" of Indian Buddhism. Simply put, it is a semicircular mound for placing the bones (relics) of Buddha or monks, also known as the tomb tower and the spiritual tower. Buddhism was introduced to China during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the combination of "studpo" and Chinese native architecture evolved into a Chinese "pagoda", a traditional architectural form with Chinese characteristics.

During the Xingzong period of the Liao Dynasty, the political stability of the dynasty was stable. The emperor and the empress believed in Buddhism and worshiped Buddhism, and mobilized the whole country to build temples and pagodas. Under this background, Yingxian Wooden Pagoda came into being.

The wooden pagoda in Ying County is built on a four-meter-high platform, with a height of 67.31 meters and a diameter of 30.27 meters at the bottom, in a plane octagonal shape. The height-to-diameter ratio of the pagoda is about 2.2, and the ratio is quite thick, which makes the wooden pagoda tall and dignified, and the Yingxian wooden pagoda is firmly placed on the ground. Except for the four-meter-high stone platform on the first floor, all other parts are made of wood without using a single nail or rivet, and are all built using traditional mortise and tenon techniques.

The wooden pagoda has five floors, and there are dark floors between each floor, which is actually nine floors. Each floor is supported by inner and outer circles of wooden pillars, each floor has 24 pillars outside and 8 inside. For more than 900 years, the wooden tower has experienced violent storms, earthquakes and artillery bombardments, and it still stands tall.

For the mortise and tenon structure of the pagoda, 54 types of dougongs are used, including 10 types of stigma paving, 29 types of tweening paving, and 15 types of corner paving. .

On the upper two floors of the tower are plaques inscribed by the emperor. In the fourth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1406 A.D.), Emperor Yongle Zhu Di led his army to the Northern Expedition. On his way back to Beijing, he was stationed in Yingzhou (now Yingxian County) and climbed the pagoda to inscribe "Supreme Magic". In the third year of Zhengde (AD 1508), Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Houzhao supervised the army in Yanghe (now Yanggao County) and Yingzhou (now Ying County) and defeated the little Tatar prince who had entered the fortress. wonders of the world". The plaque on the eaves of the third floor "Shakya Pagoda" is the oldest and most precious piece of plaque on the wooden pagoda, with a history of more than 800 years.

At the bottom of the wooden pagoda, there is a tall statue of Tathagata sitting on a huge lotus platform. There are six portraits of Tathagata on the wall of the inner tank with bright colors. This lotus platform is carried by eight strong men, each of whom is powerful, and the image is vivid and lifelike.

Bottom Tathagata and Hercules

On the second floor, there is a main Buddha, two Bodhisattvas and two followers. The three-layer plastic square Buddha faces the four directions. The five-story plastic statue of Sakyamuni sits in the center, and the eight Bodhisattvas sit in all directions. During the restoration of the statues, a batch of precious cultural relics such as scriptures written and engraved in the Liao Dynasty and Buddhist paintings on wood-colored silk were found, which is of great significance for further research on the cultural history of the Liao Dynasty.

Tathagata Buddha, Bodhisattva and attendants on the second floor

During the period of the Republic of China, the ignorant and stubborn magistrate of Ying County ordered people to dismantle the four sloped outer eaves and mud walls on all the exposed floors of the pagoda and replace them with doors and windows, which greatly affected the stability of the wooden pagoda. Now the destructive effect has already appeared, and the west and northwest sides of the second and third floors are particularly inclined, and the degree of inclination is still increasing.

The tower overlooks the newly built mountain gate, the Bell and Drum Tower in front of the tower, the nine halls behind the tower and the old county town

I was lucky when I went there in 2009. I climbed up to the second floor. Now the floor is closed and no climbing is allowed. You can only take a look at the ground floor.

Another major event in the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda was the discovery of the Buddha tooth relic in the pagoda in 1966. Although it has been "identified by the authority of the State. Family. Cultural Relics. Relics. Department" as the spiritual tooth of Buddha Sakyamuni, it is far less sensational and recognized than the discovery of the Buddha's relic in the underground palace of Famen Temple in Fufeng, Shaanxi in 1987. There are also meteorites, gossip stones (relics from the Liao Dynasty), Han marbles, etc.

There are swallows flying around the wooden pagoda. Every autumn, thousands of swallows are more spectacular.

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