Pengzhou Zhengjue Temple Pagoda

Pengzhou Zhengjue Temple Pagoda

Zhengjue Temple Pagoda is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Zhengjue Temple Pagoda

Located in Hongta Village, Hongyan Township, Pengzhou City, it was built in the first year of the Tian Sheng era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1023 AD). The pagoda is a square, thirteen-story, closely-eaved brick structure, standing 27.54 meters tall. It features a brick Sumeru pedestal-style base. The outer eaves are constructed with dentil bricks and corbelled layers. Inside, there are three levels of tower chambers, with brick columns and bracket sets supporting a coffered ceiling.

One of the eaves of Zhengjue Temple Pagoda has collapsed, and its damaged body still stands firmly piercing the blue sky, offering viewers a strong visual impact — this is the most severely damaged of the three pagodas. It is located in Hongta Village, Hongyan Town, at the border of Pengzhou and Shifang. It suffered fire damage during the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns of the late Qing Dynasty, and its top was loosened by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 1933, leading to falling bricks ever since. In the 1960s and 1970s, groups of people dismantled bricks from inside the pagoda for use, which destroyed the vaulted ceiling and created a large hole. The upper three stories can no longer be climbed. The southwestern part of the base’s Sumeru pedestal has been eroded 1.15 meters into the pagoda’s body, and the entire structure has developed a 5-centimeter-wide crack, posing a risk of collapse. Surrounded mostly by farmland and farmhouses and lacking the protection of trees and vegetation, it suffers severe weathering. Despite its damage, the pagoda’s architectural style, construction techniques, and structural mechanics have received high praise from historians and architects, and it has been included in the "Famous Pagodas of China" compendium.