Qualla: Daming Pagoda

Daming Pagoda: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CurtNeiMeng, CC BY 4.0. For nearly a thousand years, the Daming Pagoda has been the tallest thing on the horizon in Ningcheng County. At 80.22 meters -- roughly the height of a 25-story building -- this thirteen-story octagonal tower of solid brick rises from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia with an authority that time has not diminished. It is the largest ancient pagoda in China by volume and the second-tallest surviving, surpassed only by the Northern Song-era Kaiyuan Temple Pagoda in Dingzhou, Hebei, which stands about four meters higher. That such a monument exists not in one of China's famous ancient capitals but in the former Middle Capital of the Liao dynasty speaks to a chapter of Chinese history that is often overlooked.

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Image: CurtNeiMeng | CC BY 4.0

Daming Pagoda: A Date Debated Across Centuries

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CurtNeiMeng, CC BY 4.0. When exactly the Daming Pagoda was built remains a matter of scholarly disagreement. The Yuan-era Records of the Unified Yuan places its construction in 1035, during the reign of Emperor Xingzong of Liao. But an inscription carved into the pagoda itself bears a different date: th...

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Image: CurtNeiMeng | CC BY 4.0

Daming Pagoda: Eight Buddhas, Eight Faces

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sacha, CC BY-SA 4.0. The pagoda rises from a 16.21-meter Sumeru base in the dense-eave style typical of Liao dynasty religious architecture. Each of its eight facades features a large arched niche sheltering a seated Buddha, flanked by attendant bodhisattvas on the four primary sides and fierce guard...

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Image: Sacha | CC BY-SA 4.0

Daming Pagoda: Tang Echoes in Liao Stone

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CurtNeiMeng, CC BY 4.0. Art historians note that the Daming Pagoda's sculptural style reflects Tang dynasty influences, with larger-than-life Buddha figures rare among surviving Chinese pagodas. This is not surprising -- the Liao dynasty, founded by the Khitan people, absorbed and reinterpreted Tang art...

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Image: CurtNeiMeng | CC BY 4.0

Daming Pagoda: Restoration and Endurance

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CurtNeiMeng, CC BY 4.0. The twentieth century brought both neglect and rescue. Minor work in 1912 and a 1937 refurbishment that involved repainting the Buddhist sculptures kept the pagoda standing, but more serious intervention came in 1974 when the Liaoning provincial government reinforced the foundati...

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Image: CurtNeiMeng | CC BY 4.0