Sanying Pagoda

CHINA, Guangdong, Shaoguan

Sanying means Three Shadows. According to a local gazetteer, the pagoda was built within Yanxiang Temple in 1009. It is one of Guangdong’s best preserved brick pagodas from the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). The pagoda was noted for reflecting three sets of shadows onto the wall of a hall at all times, regardless of the weather. For this reason, the pagoda was called Three Shadows Pagoda and the hall became Three Shadows Hall. The temple has since been destroyed, so this phenomenon no longer exists. The pagoda was listed as a National Cultural Heritage Site in 1988.
The nine-story hexagonal brick pagoda is 50.2 m high and imitates a timber structure. The base is also hexagonal with each side measuring 8 m. On each story of the pagoda there are imitation timber architraves, bracket sets, and pilasters. Courses of dogtooth bricks are used as corbeling to form the eaves and the roofs are covered with cylindrical tiles. A dragon’s head can be found at the corner of each eave with a wind chime hanging from it. A doorway is located on each side of the pagoda and each story is enclosed by a balcony. Inside the pagoda there are hexagonal chambers on each story with niches on four of the walls. The iron spire at the top consists of an inverted bowl, nine stacked rings, and a jewel, with six chains hanging from the finial to the corners of the roof.