001 Architecture Xiuding Temple A Tang-dynasty biography records how Zhang Sengmeng gave up hunting after wounding a deer, and how he hid a tiger to save its life during a hunt by Emperor Xiaowen of the Wei—from which Tiancheng Temple arose. The temple bore in turn the names Chengshan Temple, Heshui Temple, and Xiuding Temple; at the Northern Zhou persecution of Buddhism it left the record that “this pagoda alone survived”; the Sui and Tang restored the temple, and Song and Yuan inscriptions still show the pagoda standing and the temple flourishing. These materials trace the name, ruin and revival, and repairs of Xiuding Temple in Anyang, Henan, and provide documentary clues for studying the extant Tang-dynasty square relief-brick pagoda. Northern Wei Dynasty Anyang County, Henan Province Xiuding Temple Pagoda · Xiuding Temple · Tiancheng Temple →
002 Architecture Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda The Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda, popularly called the White Pagoda, is a Liao-dynasty octagonal seven-storey pavilion-style brick pagoda at the northwest corner of the old city of Fengzhou in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. In Yuan-dynasty poems the temple pagoda, gate towers, and traffic of horses and carts were still there; when Qian Liangze of the Qing arrived, he saw only an empty city with ruined foundations and a pagoda “towering halfway to the sky.” After the city walls and the monastery vanished, the White Pagoda still stood alone in the fields, and the Jin, Yuan, and Ming inscriptions inside it preserve the names and journeys of those who passed through Fengzhou. Liao Dynasty Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda · White Pagoda · Fengzhou Pagoda →
003 Architecture Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple, Dingxian (Dingzhou) The Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple stands in Dingzhou, Hebei. Ming-dynasty poets who climbed the pagoda wrote of gazing down over the prefectural city and far toward the frontier; the Yanshan Conglu states that from the summit one can see a hundred li, and links the pagoda's name to watching for the Khitan. Old photographs from 1902 to 1932 record the pagoda amid tree groves, fields, and alleyways. Northern Song Dynasty Dingzhou, Hebei Kaiyuan Temple Pagoda in Dingxian · Kaiyuan Temple Pagoda in Dingzhou · Liaodi Pagoda →