A Millennium Sigh, Yingxian Wooden Pagoda | With Self-Driving Guide

The Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, officially known as the Fogong Temple Sakya Pagoda, was built in the second year of the Qingning era of the Liao Dynasty (1056), and it has been 968 years since then. At that time, the Song and Liao dynasties stood side by side, with constant warfare. Yingxian was under the control of the Liao state, then known as Yingzhou, only twenty kilometers from the border of the two countries. The construction of such a large-scale project in this land of soldiers and warfare is a testament to its close connection with the power of the empire. The Fogong Temple Sakya Pagoda stands at 67.31 meters tall, equivalent to a modern 22-story building, with a base diameter of 30.27 meters. The main material used is North China larch, and the brackets are made of elm wood. The entire structure consists of three parts: the base, the body, and the steeple. The most outstanding feature of the Yingxian Fogong Temple Sakya Pagoda is its octagonal planar shape, with a five-story, six-eave waist-wrapped flat base and a pointed rooftop. The pagoda body adopts a double-wall base and a double-tube body structure. This pagoda is the oldest and largest all-wood structure pagoda existing in China and abroad, and it is known as one of the 'Three Wonders of the World' along with Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This unparalleled marvel stands on the earth, having witnessed literati in wide robes and large sleeves; spirited officials; and even emperors who looked down upon the world. Of course, it has also seen guns and wars, and modern people of today. In thirty-two years, the wooden pagoda will welcome its own millennium. I hope... its legend, never ends.