Iron Pagoda Mountain Iron Pagoda

Iron Pagoda Mountain Iron Pagoda

The Iron Pagoda on Iron Pagoda Mountain is a cultural relic protection unit of Liaoning Province.

The Iron Pagoda on Iron Pagoda Mountain is located atop Iron Pagoda Mountain in Nongmin Village, Dongcheng Subdistrict Office, Gaizhou City, on the summit of a gentle 60-meter-high hill. The pagoda is bluish-black in color, resembling iron, hence the name "Iron Pagoda." Because of the pagoda, the mountain is also called Iron Pagoda Mountain or simply Pagoda Mountain.

Local legend says this pagoda was built around the same time as the former "Balay Temple" (now gone) to its east, dating back to the fourth year of the Kangxi reign in the Qing Dynasty. The *Gaixian County Annals · Scenic Spots* section records: “The Iron Pagoda, located five li east of the city, is said to have flown away and was later rebuilt with stone.” Aside from the county annals, another widely circulated belief is that it was built during the Tang Dynasty. These two accounts differ by a thousand years, making both highly questionable and unreliable. According to archaeological surveys, many Liao Dynasty patterned bricks have been found here. The Liao Dynasty frequently built pagodas near regional cities, and just five li west of this site lies Gaizhou City—known as Chenzhou during the Liao Dynasty—so building a pagoda outside Chenzhou would have been reasonable. Also, the bricks' iron-like color could explain the name "Iron Pagoda." Since no Tang Dynasty relics have been found, claims that it was built in the Tang Dynasty are unsubstantiated. Later, when the Liao pagoda collapsed, a stone pagoda was built. Judging from the architectural style, it appears to have been reconstructed in the early Qing Dynasty on the foundation of the Liao pagoda.

The pagoda is a stone structure, solid, octagonal, and of the dense-eave style, standing 10.1 meters tall in total. Its base is made of rock, and it consists of five parts from bottom to top: the base, the Sumeru pedestal, the body, the eaves, and the top.

The octagonal base has a diameter of 2.5 meters and is 0.77 meters high. It is divided into upper and lower sections: the upper part is 0.34 meters high, and the lower part is 0.43 meters high. Made of granite, each side is carved with lotus flowers, along with frequent cloud and meander patterns.

The Sumeru pedestal is an octagonal waist-tightening style, standing 2.03 meters high. Each of its eight sides is inlaid with a bluestone stele, each stele being 0.92 meters tall and 0.4 meters wide. The inscriptions read: On the south face, horizontally engraved are “Great Divine Vajra” at the top and “Managed and supervised by Dong Shiju of Chenzhou Academy...” at the bottom; the southwest face reads “Blue Disaster-Removing Vajra”; the west face reads “Poison-Expelling Vajra”; the northwest face reads “Yellow Seeker Vajra”; the north face reads “White Pure Water Vajra”; the northeast face reads “Red Voice Vajra”; the east face reads “Calm Disaster Vajra”; and the southeast face reads “Purple Sage Vajra.” The lotus pedestal under each stele is 0.29 meters high, while the lotus pedestal above the stele is 0.62 meters high. The space from the top of the stele to the lower edge of the upper lotus pedestal is 0.23 meters.

Above the Sumeru pedestal is the pagoda body, which is 1.03 meters tall. Each of the eight sides features a single bluestone-carved seated Buddha, each 0.45 meters tall. The figures are robust, solemn, majestic, and benevolent. They have square faces, round collars, drooping earlobes, square mouths, and straight noses. The clothing textures are clear, reflecting characteristics of Liao Dynasty carving art. The craftsmanship is exquisite, with distinct expressions and lifelike appearances. Each Buddha niche is 0.45 meters tall and 0.26 meters wide. The seated Buddhas have inscriptions in the following order: the south-facing one is inscribed with “Ba Deng Ge”; the southwest-facing one with “Zhang Meng Shu”; the west-facing one with “Li Guo Dong”; the northwest-facing one with “Chen Bai”; the north-facing one with “Wang Guo Jie”; the northeast-facing one with “Wang Qi Jun”; the east-facing one with “Chen Chao Yuan”; and the inscription on the southeast-facing one is unclear. Above the Buddha niches is a canopy decoration carved in the shape of a tent in a graceful curve. A pair of flying apsaras is carved above each canopy, with graceful and vivid poses. Below the seated Buddhas is a double-layered lotus pedestal with a waist-tightening design. The lower waist layer features cloud patterns, the upper layer has meander patterns, and the middle has fine lotus patterns with wave-like textures on the petals.

The pagoda has 14 layers of eaves, totaling 5.43 meters in height. They gradually converge toward the top from the bottom. The eaves are adorned with tile ridges, and the eave brackets are carved with round roof tiles featuring double-convex herringbone patterns. The first layer of eaves is 0.1 meters thick, and the vertical distance to the second layer is 0.35 meters. Holes are carved under each of the eight corner eaves, where square wooden brackets were originally inserted to hang wind chimes. These wooden parts have now decayed and broken, and the wind chimes are all gone. The first layer of eaves features carved stone brackets in the dougong style of one bracket and three supporting blocks. The height between each layer of eaves varies, and at the center of each eave face is a concave circle 0.14 meters in diameter, which was designed for installing a bronze mirror when the pagoda was built. Now only the circular recesses remain without mirrors. The stones used for each layer of eaves differ in material. From bottom to top, layers 1, 3, 9, 11, and 13 are made of mudstone slabs, while layers 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 14 are carved from bluestone.

The gourd-shaped top of the pagoda is carved from granite and stands 0.84 meters tall in total. The gourd is placed upright in a wasp-waisted style. The lower belly is 0.38 meters high, and the upper belly is 0.46 meters high, with the lower belly being wider in diameter than the upper. The base of the gourd sits on lotus-leaf-like carved decorations, resembling a flower stand, which is delicate and beautiful.

Viewed from a distance, the slender and elegant stone pagoda stands out with its unique style, leaving viewers in awe. This reflects the extraordinary skill, ingenuity, and wisdom of the builders at the time.

In 1984, the Yingkou Municipal People’s Government designated the Iron Pagoda on Iron Pagoda Mountain as a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit. In 2007, the Liaoning Provincial People’s Government (Liaozheng Fa [2007] No. 22) listed it as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit. The scope of protection and construction control zones announced by the Liaoning Provincial People’s Government (Liaozheng Fa [2008] No. 48) are as follows: within 20 meters outside the pagoda base is the protected area; from 20 to 30 meters outside the protected area is the Class I construction control zone; and from 30 to 100 meters outside the Class I zone is the Class II construction control zone.

Information source: Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, News, Broadcasting, and Tourism; Contributor: Dong Wenjie

Nongmin Village: Nongmin Village…… Detailed information on Nongmin Village++

Further reading:

· Seventh Batch of Liaoning Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units