Wooden Pagoda in Ying County
3 min readThe Wooden Pagoda in Ying County was originally called the “Shakya Pagoda of Fogong Temple”. It was built in the 2nd Year of Qingning Period in the Liao Dynasty (1056). Its total height reaches 67 meters. It is the only existing big wooden ancient pagoda in China and also the highest existing wooden structure in the world. The pagoda takes the shape of a pavilion. From the outside people can see 5 f oors but actually the pagoda has additional 4 hidden f oors inside it. Therefore it has 9 f oors. The pagoda body takes the shape of an octagon and each side is 3 rooms in side length. A circle of wide exterior corridor is added outside the f rst f oor. Each open f oor inside the Wooden Pagoda has Buddhist statues consecrated. Plaques of dif ferent dynasties are hung under the eaves of each f oor. The entire building looks stable and massive, owning an unparalleled momentum.
The dougong brackets of the Wooden Pagoda in Ying County are grand and imposing, showing an extremely moving aesthetic perception. They have numerous kinds of shapes and forms, forming a lot of complicated complexes. The dougong brackets which project out layer by layer have strong ornamental meanings, filling the ancient pagoda with great glamour and rhythms.
The iron pagoda spire measuring more than 10 meters high pushes the religious circumstance of the pagoda to its peak.
The edges of eaves a t t h e c o r n e r s slightly turn upward and share a vivid shape. The body of the pagoda is grand, straight, graceful and majestic. The doublelayer stone base, which is more than 4 meters high, is decorated with crouching lions carved in the Liao Dynasty. The plane of the pagoda body is an octagon. The diameter of the bottom floor amounts to 30 meters, largest among all existing ancient pagodas in China. The double-layer eaves of the bottom floor are both beautiful and practical. A cloister twines around the first floor of the pagoda, making it look both open and stable. The extents of the protrusion of eaves decrease floor by floor, giving a strong sense of rhythm.
There are about 60 kinds of dougong brackets. It is very rare to see such a great variety. Plaques with inscriptions of famous people from different dynasties are hung on the pagoda body.
There is a horizontal structural layer between the columns and roof beams of the pagoda. It is formed with indoor and outdoor dougong brackets on the same horizontal level. People call it “Puzuo Floor”. “Puzuo” was the name of dougong brackets in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The “Puzuo Floor” could only be seen in the high-class buildings of the Tang and Song Dynasties. This structure pattern nearly vanished in the constructions of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Big frescos of the Liao Dynasty are preserved on the walls of the f rst floor of the pagoda. They are precious cultural relics. The hidden floor has the function similar to the structural layer of modern high buildings. It enhances the integrity of the wooden structure and gives it a good anti-seismic ability. Each floor of the pagoda has staircases for climbing. B u d d h a s t a t u e s a r e consecrated on each open f oor of the pagoda.
Wooden Pagodas in the History
There were once a lot of wooden Buddhist pagodas higher than 100 meters in the history of China. For example, the Pagoda of Yongning Temple in Luoyang of the Northern Wei Dynasty which had 9 f oors reached high into the cloud and was extremely majestic. This showed that the technology of wooden structure was quite matured at that time. Pitifully, the pagoda was burnt in a fire accident. Compared with them, the Wooden Pagoda in Ying County is a “short fellow”. But only the Wooden Pagoda in Ying County survives till now. From it we are can fully imagine how striking and impressive the grand f gures of those vanished high wooden structures are.
