Yingxian Wooden Pagoda：An Irreparable Miracle

Sakyamuni Tower of Fogong Monastery, also known as the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, is located in Ying County, Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province. Built during the Liao Dynasty, it has stood for nearly a thousand years. As the oldest and tallest surviving all-wooden pavilion style structure in the world, it is known as one of the"Three Great Miracle Towers of the World" along with the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Rising 67.31 meters and weighing over 7,400 tons, the pagoda was constructed without a single iron nail or metal component—each wooden piece meticulously joined through mortise and tenon joint structure. Its frame features 59 distinct types of dougong, which decorate the pagoda like blooming lotus flowers, earning it the title of a "Museum of Dougong." This ingenious design has allowed the structure to withstand 38 earthquakes, over 200 shelling in 1926.

However, the pagoda is tilting at a rate of 2 millimeters per year. After a millennium of exposure, its timber has gradually aged. A poorly executed restoration in the last century worsened its lean, leaving the damage irreversible. Today, our technology still falls short of fully restoring it. Every glance at the pagoda feels like a farewell. Whether it will witness another thousand years now rests in our hands.