Huqiu Tower

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Yunyan Pagoda

Yunyan Pagoda, also known as Huqiu Tower, has been named China’s Leaning Tower of Pisa by world architects. Situated outside Changmen, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, it is also known as the Yunyan Temple Tower. The tower was built in the later period of the Five Dynasties (907-960 AD) and is 47 metres high. It is a seven-story octangular building built with blue bricks. The pavilion structure is extremely complicated and its colour is magnificent. In more than a thousand years the tower has gradually slanted due to forces of nature. Now the top and bottom of the tower vary by 2.32 meters.

The tower leans because the foundation is originally half rock and the other half is on soil. In 1957, efforts were made to stabilize the tower and prevent further leaning. Concrete was also pumped into the soil forming a stronger foundation. During the reinforcement process, a stone casket containing Buddhist scriptures were found. The container had an inscription noted the completion date of the tower as the seventeenth day of the twelfth month in the second year of the reign of Jianlong (961 AD).

Although it is seven stories, there are no built-in staircases. People climbed to upper stories using movable ladders.

As of January 2007 public access to the top of the tower is allowed.