108 Pagodas 一百零八塔

About 108 Pagodas

Their repeated white forms are the main distant impression, but the towers have several different shapes. Western Xia objects were discovered at the site, while the exact original construction date remains debated. The ensemble belongs to a protected religious landscape, not a set of towers intended for climbing.

The name reflects the 108 lama-style brick pagodas that make up the group; construction predates the Ming dynasty, though sources disagree on whether it dates from the Western Xia-to-Ming period or the Yuan dynasty. Local tradition variously credits a Song-dynasty general's troop levy or soldiers killed nearby. Repaired in 1648 and again under the Republic of China, the group lost an adjoining temple site and two smaller pagodas in 1958, when the Qingtongxia reservoir was built; Western Xia silk paintings and sutra fragments recovered there halted a plan to relocate the whole group.

The pagodas stand on twelve stepped stone-and-brick platforms cut into the hillside in an overall isosceles-triangle plan facing east, about 20 kilometres west-southwest of Qingtongxia and 1.5 kilometres west of the reservoir's upper gorge. The lowest platform is 5 metres high and 54 metres long, and the full run of platforms rises 31.82 metres over a width of 59.1 metres. The tallest pagoda, at the apex, has an internal chamber; the rest are solid, with brick shells over rammed-earth cores.

The site was named a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 1988, after Ningxia had listed it regionally in 1963; a national-approved restoration followed in 1987 and 1988, when archaeologists recovered Western Xia sutra fragments from the pagodas.

What to look for

• Twelve stepped terraces arrange the pagodas into a triangular composition.
• Several pagoda forms appear within the repeated rows.

Location & getting there

Getting to 108 Pagodas

Use the 108 Pagodas visitor access within the Qingtongxia Yellow River Grand Canyon tourism area. Confirm the operating entrance, road or boat arrangement and ticket scope before setting out from Qingtongxia.