|
 The Jingzhen Octagonal Pavilion stands on Jingzhen Hill, 14 kilometers west of Menghai County in the Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province.
The Jingzhen Octagonal Pavilion was built in 1701 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) -- the year 1063 according to the Dai calendar. It was originally built in a local Hinayana temple, but the temple was destroyed. The pavilion has retained its former features following three large-scale repairs.
Built on a brick and wooden structure, the pavilion consists of a Sumeru base, a body, a roof and a mast. The 15.42-meter-high pavilion is shaped like a plane of 16 angles with a 2.5-by- 8.6-meter base. The multiangular walls were built with layered bricks that make up the body, with 16 columns standing at each angle. With doors on all four sides, the walls are covered with light red clay and are decorated with pieces of colored glass and shiny patterns of flowers, animals and figures made from gold and silver powders. The roof is a wooden, cone-shaped structure. The ridge is decorated with small golden pagodas, beasts and flame-shaped glass with copper bells dangling from beneath the eaves. The mast is 16 meters high and is decorated with flower patterns made of flasks of silver. The pavilion, exquisite and elegant, is an elaborate work of Buddhist architecture of the Dai ethnic minority. |
