Life advice! When visiting ancient buildings in Shanxi, remember to look up!

🪦✨ The Liao Dynasty wooden pagoda, built without a single steel nail and solely with pure wooden mortise and tenon joints, has stood on the land of Shanxi for over a thousand years and still stands tall. The Yingxian Wooden Pagoda is one of the best representatives of ancient Shanxi architecture throughout the long river of history. 🪦✨ Standing in front of this five-story high tower, anyone would feel exceptionally small. The majestic aura of the wooden pagoda is enough to move everyone. In fact, not only is the exterior of the pagoda exquisite, but its interior architecture also embodies the essence of ancient Shanxi construction. 🏯✨ In reality, many people who enter the pagoda are pushed along by the crowd, and since there is no lighting inside, most people just glance at the murals beside them and then drift out with the flow. However, if you look up at the position of the Buddha statues, you will discover that this wooden pagoda is truly awe-inspiring. 🏯✨ At the center of the ceiling above the first floor Buddha statues, there is a protruding wooden structure, which in architectural terms is called a 'caisson'. The caisson is one of the most important decorative practices in ancient Chinese architecture. 🏯✨ The caisson protrudes upwards in different layers, with brackets made at the edge of each layer. The brackets support the beams, which in turn support the arch above. In fact, the caisson inside the wooden pagoda is not very complex, but standing under the huge Buddha statue and suddenly looking up, the beauty of that moment is truly stunning. 🏯✨ The caisson is not only a decorative feature but also serves to expand the space. The upward protrusion is what allows for more space on the first floor. This is why in many ancient buildings, the most beautiful spot is where you'll see a caisson when you look up. In fact, the ancients understood how to use space to create beauty better than we do. 🏯✨ So I really recommend that when you visit ancient buildings, be sure to look up at the ceilings. You might then see the exquisite and splendid caissons, which are the unique inverted worlds created by the ancients with gilded wood and colorful paintings for ancient architecture.