Po-Pagode (Fan-Pagode)

Fan Pagoda (Fan Ta) is one of the oldest above-ground structures in Kaifeng and one of the more unusual Buddhist monuments in China. Located east of Kaifeng's railway station, it survives from the Northern Song dynasty, a period when Kaifeng was the imperial capital and a great centre of Buddhist patronage. For visitors interested in pre-Ming architecture, Fan Pagoda is among the most rewarding sites in the city, since it preserves forms and details that the great floods of later centuries erased from neighbouring monuments.

The pagoda's most striking feature is its unusual profile. The structure rises about thirty-six metres in a hexagonal plan, with a broad three-storey base that supports a smaller six-storey upper section. The result is a stepped silhouette unlike the more uniform tapered pagodas common elsewhere in China, and architectural historians have studied the tower for what it reveals about regional experiments in pagoda design during the early Song period. The form also reflects structural compromises made over the centuries, as the tower was repaired and modified after earthquake and flood damage.

What makes Fan Pagoda genuinely memorable, however, is its surface. The outer walls are built of grey glazed bricks, and almost every individual brick carries a moulded image of a Buddhist figure: Shakyamuni, Manjushri, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteshvara, and ranks of arhats. The density and consistency of this relief programme give the tower the appearance of a single, massive devotional object, with the accumulated effect of thousands of small icons emerging from the wall surface. Inside, the staircases and inner walls are inlaid with Song-dynasty inscriptions, including notable calligraphy in regular script by the Song scholar Zhao Anren.

For international visitors, Fan Pagoda is best appreciated slowly and at close range, since its main interest lies in the texture of its brickwork and inscriptions rather than in dramatic silhouette. The site is quieter than Kaifeng's major theme parks and receives fewer group tours, which makes it a good place to end a day of intensive sightseeing. Allow around an hour. It is particularly rewarding for travellers with an interest in Buddhist art, Song calligraphy, or medieval architecture.