page_title: Baisigou Square Pagoda
section_title: Construction of the pagoda
hierarchical_section_title: Baisigou Square Pagoda / Construction of the pagoda
caption_attribution_description: English: Wooden central post (cut into sections) from the Baisigou Square Pagoda in Helan Mountains of Ningxia. The pagoda was destroyed illegally in 1990, and the posts are now kept at the Twin Pagodas of Baisikou.
context_page_description: Baisigou Square Pagoda was a brick pagoda in Helan County, Ningxia, China, built during the early years of the Western Xia dynasty, circa 1075–1076. It is situated in an isolated location about 10 km into the Baisigou Valley on the eastern side of the Helan Mountains, northwest of Yinchuan, but may have been the site of an important Buddhist temple during the Western Xia. The pagoda was illegally destroyed in 1990; archaeological investigation of the ruins has uncovered a large number of Tangut artefacts and Buddhist relics, including books and manuscripts written in the Tangut language and script.
context_section_description: After excavating the base of the pagoda, archaeologists were able to determine that the pagoda was built during the Western Xia dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Huizong (reigned 1067–1086), not during the Ming dynasty as was previously thought. The primary evidence for the date of construction of the pagoda comes from an ink inscription in Chinese on a section of the central supporting pillar made of pine wood which was discovered in the ruins (there is also an ink inscription in Tangut, but that is largely illegible). The Chinese ink inscription is dated the 5th month of the cyclical year yinmao 寅卯 in the 2nd year of the Da'an era (1076). Yinmao is not a valid cyclical date, and is thought to be a mistake for yimao 乙卯, however yimao corresponds to the first year of the Da'an era (1075). Therefore, it is thought that the pagoda must have been constructed in 1075–1076.
  A wooden tablet with ink inscriptions in Tangut on both sides records repairs made to the pagoda during the reign of Emperor Chongzong (reigned 1086–1139) between the 13th and 23rd days of the 5th month of the 13th year of the Zhenguan era, i.e. 27 June to 7 July 1113 in the Julian calendar.
  Excavation of the pagoda base indicated that the pagoda was originally thirteen stories in height, not eleven as it had previously appeared to be, as the lowest two stories had been covered up by mudslides over the centuries. There was also no specially built foundation platform underneath the pagoda, as is usually the case, but it was built on a foundation of broken stones. The pagoda was solid inside, with a wooden central supporting pillar that was grounded in a depression 1.4 m in circumference and 2.1 m deep at the bottom of the pagoda. Although the pagoda was solid, there were small, square rooms built into the third, tenth and twelfth stories, with windows on the south side.  Matching false windows were built into the south side of all the other stories.
  Investigation of the surrounding area showed that there was a large Western Xia site to the west of the pagoda, from which archaeologists recovered pieces of tile ends, roof sculptures, and guttering, some of which was glazed in green or blue. As the Laws of the Western Xia specify that red, green and blue glazed tiles are only permitted for use in temples or palaces, these remains are thought to come from a Buddhist temple associated with the pagoda.
  Although the pagoda is now in a very isolated location, the mouth of Baisigou Valley is guarded by two Western Xia pagodas, and there are a large number of Western Xia sites with broken pottery, bricks and tiles all along the valley leading up the square pagoda, and so Niu Dasheng has suggested that the temple and pagoda at Baisigou were an important religious site during the Western Xia. The name Baisigou (拜寺沟) means "Valley of the temple" in Chinese. There are no known historical records of the pagoda, but Niu speculates that this was the site of the Temple of Five Platforms Mountain (Wutaishan Si 五台山寺), named after the famous Buddhist mountain, Wutaishan, in Shanxi.
caption: Wooden central supporting pillar (cut into sections) from the Square Pagoda
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