Photos of Liaocheng Tieta

The Liaocheng Iron Tower is located on the bank of the Jinghang Ancient Canal in Dongguan, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, which is known as the "Water City in the North of the Yangtze River", in the southeast corner of the former Huguo Longxing Temple. There is no written record about the time when the tower was built. According to the stone carving style of the tower base and the stone tablets found during the repair, it is inferred that the construction age should be the Southern Song Dynasty or the Liao and Jin Dynasties. It was in disrepair before liberation, and most of it was in ruins, with only the bottom 5 floors remaining. In 1973, the government allocated funds for reconstruction, and the crashed tower body and the top of the tower were dug out from the ground to repair the original. During the construction, a stone letter was found on the five-story tower body and base. Outside the stone letter, there were copper bodhisattvas, porcelain vases and many ancient coins of the Song and Yuan Dynasties displayed. Inside the letter is a small silver coffin containing monks' ashes and relics, and an inscription is engraved on the outside of the stone letter. The tower is cast iron with 13 layers and is about 15.8 meters high. The base under the tower covers an area of 16 square meters, and there are stone carvings of Buddhist reliefs such as peacocks, dragons and phoenixes and figures of music and dance. There are doors and windows, bucket arches, eaves, etc. on all sides of the tower. In 1977, the tower was announced as a key cultural relics protection unit in Shandong Province. In 2006, the tower was announced as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.