The Wooden Pagoda in Yingxian county in Northern Shanxi province was built in 1056 and is the oldest and tallest wooden Buddhist Pagoda in China. The pagoda stands nearly 70 meters tall is 30-meters in diameter and weighs over 300 tons. Made up of at least 3,500 cubic meters of wood, the pagoda is octagonal in shape and contains nine floors, with four built-in stories not apparent from the outside. Built without the use of nails, the entire structure is solid, imposing, and elegant.

Although built entirely with timber, the pagoda has weathered over 900 years of wind and storm, withstood numerous strong earthquakes and wars. It's been recorded that there had been a strong earthquake measuring 6.5 degrees on the richter scale 300 years after the pagoda was built. All the buildings around collapsed but the quake merely shook out some shingles from the pagoda's eaves. During the fights between warlords in the early 20th century, the pagoda was hit by nearly 200 bombs, but it remained intact.

All this is thanks to its unique structure. The pagoda's multi-storey structure has given it the kind of stability resembling those in modern buildings. It wood texture is very soft, which won't easily twist under outside pressure. The many layers also reinforce the pagoda.

Many wood pagodas in China were destroyed by lightening. Since a 14 meters tall iron decoration on top of the pagoda connected by eight iron chains to the ground works very much like a modern lightning rod, the wood pagoda did not suffer any damage from lightening.

The temple is also extolled as an outstanding example of Chinese architecture, interior design and art.