Yingxian Wooden Pagoda 应县木塔Yìngxiàn Mùtǎ

Why go to Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

In the county town of Yingxian, south of Datong, the octagonal timber pagoda of Fogong Temple rises more than 65 metres, with five outer storeys hiding four mezzanine floors. Built in 1056 under the Khitan Liao dynasty, it is the oldest surviving all-wooden pagoda in China, and Guinness World Records lists it as the world's tallest wooden pagoda. Walk round it to study its 54 kinds of interlocking wooden bracket sets (dougong), then step into the ground floor to see the great seated Buddha.

The story

A local gazetteer records seven earthquakes in the pagoda's first half-century, and it rode them all out. Its worse damage has come from people: war and later changes to its structure have left its second storey leaning, which is why visitors have not been allowed to climb it for more than a decade.

What to see at Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

• Fogong Temple gate hall 佛宫寺山门: The temple's south gate hall, with the Four Heavenly Kings inside, sits with a bell tower and a drum tower on either side. The pagoda was once the centre of a much larger temple, and these buildings give a hint of that setting.
• Stone platform 塔基台座: The pagoda stands on a stone base about 4 metres high, a square lower tier below an octagonal upper tier. The corner stones carry lion heads that date from the Liao dynasty.
• Ground-floor Buddha 底层释迦像: Inside the open ground floor a seated Buddha of about 10 metres fills the central chamber under a caisson ceiling. On the inner walls are six figures of the Buddha, and the doorway walls carry painted guardians in a Liao-style manner, possibly retouched in later periods.
• Imperial plaques 木塔匾额: Wooden plaques hang from the upper storeys, among them 'A Wonder of the World' attributed to the Zhengde emperor of the Ming and a Yongle-era plaque on the top floor. A Qing plaque dated 1722 hangs by the south door of the ground floor.

How to visit Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

The pagoda stands at the centre of the temple grounds, so you come in through the south gate hall and walk straight up to it. Circle the base to look at the bracket sets and plaques before going into the ground floor, the only level open. An hour or two covers it, and from Datong a half-day return by high-speed train is realistic.

How to get to Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

High-speed trains reach Yingxian West in about 20–30 minutes from Datong South or about 1.5 hours from Taiyuan South; take a taxi from the station into town. By car it is about 1–1.5 hours from Datong.

Where to stay

Base yourself in Datong, which has the fast trains and is also the base for Yungang and the Hanging Temple. Yingxian itself is a small county town best seen as a day trip.

What to eat

• Hunyuan cold noodle jelly 浑源凉粉: Cold potato jelly in a chili sauce, a speciality of Hunyuan county in the Datong area.
• Fried millet cake 油糕: A deep-fried cake made from millet, a traditional Datong snack.
• Lamb offal with vermicelli 羊杂: A hot bowl of lamb offal and vermicelli noodles, found in Datong's local restaurants.

Tips for visiting Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

• Only the ground floor is open; climbing the pagoda is banned to protect the leaning structure.
• For a look at the upper floors, the digital exhibition room in the south-east corner of the site runs an immersive virtual tour of about 20 minutes.
• Combine it with the Hanging Temple, about an hour away by road, on a day trip from Datong.

Nearby

• Hanging Temple 悬空寺 50 km
  A wooden temple pinned to a sheer cliff, seemingly propped up on stilts
• Yanmen Pass 雁门关 50 km
  A Ming fortress gate on the Inner Great Wall, its ramparts running up the mountain ridges
• Datong Ancient City 大同古城 60 km
  Rebuilt Ming ramparts around genuine Liao–Jin temple halls and a glazed dragon screen
• Yungang Grottoes 云冈石窟 60 km
  Giant Buddhas carved into a sandstone cliff some 1,500 years ago
• Mount Wutai 五台山 70 km
  Temples, a towering white stupa and yellow-tiled roofs below five flat-topped holy peaks
• Foguang Temple 佛光寺 80 km
  A Tang timber hall of 857 on a quiet hillside, still filled with its Tang clay statues

Also within 30 km: Jingtu Temple, Yingxian 净土寺 (under 10 km), Jinshatan Ancient Battlefield 金沙滩古战场 (30 km).

On the map

Open Yingxian Wooden Pagoda on the illustrated map to see the terrain around it, what else is close, and to add it to a trip and plan the days.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Wikipedia (Chinese)