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About Sheli Pagoda
The pagoda was rebuilt in the thirty-ninth year of the Ming Wanli reign, 1611. It is a pavilion-type pagoda of brick and timber standing more than sixty metres high on a base of dressed stone, octagonal in plan, with nine storeys and a circumference of thirty-nine metres. Its walls taper very little, so the shaft rises almost vertically, and the top is shaped like a helmet. The doorway on the south side carries the pagoda name cut into the lintel, inscribed by Wang Chengde, a Wanli-period jinshi and provincial judge who came from the town.
The detailing is in fired clay. The eaves project 1.55 metres and rest on ceramic bracket sets, with ceramic brick carvings of the Amitabha invocation set beneath each tier and lotus corbels at the corners. From the second storey upward each of the eight faces carries a doorway, four of them real and four false. Every storey holds a stone inscription recording why the pagoda was built and how the money was raised, and the sixth storey, the most elaborate, has a plaque inside, with inscriptions over the east and west windows that look towards Mount Tai in one direction and the Taihang range in the other. A timber mast runs up the centre of the tower with a turning stair around it. The pagoda is included in the dictionary of Chinese scenic sites compiled by the national cultural relics authority.
What to look for
- The south doorway, whose lintel carries the pagoda name inscribed by the Wanli-period official Wang Chengde
- The ceramic bracket sets under the eaves, with brick-carved Amitabha invocations and lotus corbels at the corners
- The eight-sided upper storeys, where four of the doorways are real openings and four are false
- The stone inscriptions on each storey recording the purpose of the building and the fundraising
- The sixth storey, the most elaborate, with its plaque and the inscriptions over the east and west windows
Location & getting there
Getting to Sheli Pagoda
Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.
- Search for 舍利宝塔 with 聊城市 and 临清市.
Find Sheli Pagoda
舍利宝塔 · 临清市
No reliable map pin yet: search by the Chinese name.
Sources & visit information
The linked sources support the identity and background described in this introduction. Opening hours, admission, activity availability and exact arrival arrangements have not been comprehensively checked. Confirm current visitor information with the venue; the original catalogue locality and editorial review flag are retained.