White Pagoda of Jizhou

The White Pagoda (白塔) stands in the south-west corner of the old town of Jizhou, three hundred metres due south of Dule Temple, of which it was originally a part. Tradition holds that it was first built in the Sui dynasty and rebuilt in the fourth year of Qingning under the Liao, in 1058; carbon-14 dating of the timber inside the structure supported the older claim. Its lower part is built as a dense-eave tower and its upper part is finished as an inverted bowl, a combination that Chinese architectural writing treats as one of the stranger examples among Liao pagodas. The base carries a brick imitation of a wooden Sumeru throne with reliefs of musicians and dancers.