East Pagoda of Miaozhan Monastery

In the central plaza of Guandu Ancient Town, the East Pagoda of Miaozhan Monastery stands as a survivor of time and tectonic shifts. Built during the Yuan Dynasty, between 1295 and 1335, this thirteen-tier, square, dense-eaves solid brick structure rises 17.5 meters. Its companion, the West Pagoda, collapsed during a catastrophic earthquake in 1833, leaving the East Pagoda to stand alone for over a century until the West Pagoda was reconstructed in 2002.

The pagoda's physical presence is defined by its pale yellow brickwork and a solid, doorless ground floor measuring 2.7 meters wide. Above this base, the tower tapers from the eighth tier upward. Each level from the second to the twelfth features four arched niches housing Buddha statues. Six layers of overlapping flat bricks form the eaves, which curve slightly upward at the corners. At the very top, four bronze-cast Garudas—mythical golden-winged birds locally called "Golden Chickens"—perch on the roof corners to ward off floods.

Human hands have left distinct marks across the centuries. In the fourteenth century, builders pressed Sanskrit characters into wet clay bricks before firing them. In 1458, Ming Dynasty workers expanded the temple complex. Centuries later, in 1957, restorers uncovered those inscribed brick fragments while repairing the foundation and lifting reconstructed bronze birds to the sky.

Today, the tower reveals a new chapter of movement. In October 2024, conservationists detected a structural tilt of 1°45′7″. The top of the tower has shifted 0.51 meters westward and 0.09 meters northward relative to its 5.5-meter-wide square pedestal. This silent, slow-motion lean has prompted emergency monitoring, yet the pagoda continues to capture the imagination. During autumn and winter nights, the moon casts the tower's shadow across the ground. The shadow moves slowly, resembling a giant brush writing on the earth, a phenomenon locals call "Writing the Sky."