Wooden Pagoda in Yingxian

Located on the West Street in Yinxian, Shanxi Province, Wooden Pagoda is a wooden construction in the yard of the Fogong Temple, a complex the Wooden Pagoda used to belong to. Unfortunately, most of the temple buildings have been damaged, only the wooden pagoda still stands right in the centre of the temple's courtyard.
Wooden Pagoda in Yingxian is a traditional Chinese style pagoda, its balustrades at each level forming an impressive composition. Known as the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, the imposing structure is the highest and the oldest wooden structure extant today in China. Built in the Liao Dynasty over 920 years ago, the pagoda stands at the foot of the Hengshan Mountain, though it appears as a five-storey structure, the pagoda in fact has nine storeys with four hidden inside. It was constructed with over 50 kinds of brackets, depending entirely on the joining of tenons and mortises and, more miraculously, without a single nail or rivet. Despite the long exposure to the elements, violent earthquakes and intense shelling during wars, the pagoda remains intact, revealing its exquisite quality in a rustic, simple manner.
Housed in the pagoda are Buddhist statues of different countenances and postures. The one of Sakyamuni on the first floor stands at 11 metres high. Around it on the walls are murals depicting guardians, lokapalas, disciples and donors in a lifelike and meticulous manner, in typical Liao-dynasty painting style.
On the third storey one can have a good view of g countryside. The higher one ascends in the pagoda, the better the view is.