Reflection 1: Pagoda of Fogong Temple
When talking about ‘creative’, the Pagoda of Fogong Temple is the first thing that bumps into my mind. This pagoda, built-in 1056, is located in Shanxi Province, China. It’s not a new thing, but its construction is so creative and inspiring even if we observe it from the perspective of modern people.
The pagoda has 3 points that attract me the most. First, it was made entirely of wood. It is built with an all-wood structure without a single nail. About 3000 tons of wooden components are interlocked to form the pagoda body. Second, the height of the pagoda is much higher than other traditional Chinese pure wooden buildings of the same period. It is more than 65m high, equivalent to the current twenty-three-story tall building. Third, the extreme firmness of the pagoda. It is usually quite hard for most of the wooden buildings to maintain, but things are different for the Pagoda of Fogong Temple. After experiencing more than 40 earthquakes, more than 200 artillery shell attacks, and year-round strong winds, the wooden pagoda remains steady. And all these charming points are thanks to its creative construction which is a bit difficult for me to clarify clearly here.
In my perspective, ‘creative’ is not to completely surpass the cognition of normal people, but to re-express existing cognition unexpectedly. All-wooden buildings are not rare in ancient China, but only the Pagoda of Fogong Temple can achieve this level of sturdiness, stability, and carrying capacity. The construction of this pagoda did not use any products that surpassed that era but cleverly used existing resources to cooperate to create a building that transcended the era.
