The Millennium National Treasure has been distorted and tilted, but the repair plan has been "difficult to give birth" for nearly 30 years
Don’t let the “sick and crooked” wooden pagoda of Yingxian County fall down while discussing but not making decisions
From the outside, the western eaves of the second floor of Yingxian Wooden Pagoda are obviously sinking, and the pillars are inclined inward.
Photo by our reporter Xu Wei
Our reporter Zhao Donghui and Wang Xuetao
"This tower is really a unique and great work. Without seeing this tower, I don't know to what extent the possibility of wooden construction." The national treasure that made the architect Liang Sicheng famous is the wooden tower of Yingxian County.
It stands majestically on the vast land of northern Shanxi. It has 20 floors of high building, a flat octagonal shape, a total of nine floors with five floors and four shades. The appearance is five floors and six eaves.
The whole pagoda is decorated with more than 50 kinds of bucket arches, like a blossoming lotus, and the center of each Ming layer is dedicated to Buddha.
Ascending to the tower, the sanggan is like a belt, and the Hengyue is like a screen.
For nearly a thousand years, after wind and rain, earthquakes, wars, and improper maintenance, this world's tallest existing wooden pavilion-style pagoda has been distorted.
In the early 1990s, the renovation of the wooden tower was formally approved, but the renovation plan has been "difficult to deliver" for nearly 30 years.
Experts in the industry believe that wooden tower repairs must take a scientific and prudent attitude, and should not be allowed to "fend for themselves". Relevant departments should be brave enough to take their responsibilities and form a strong force for solving problems.
The tallest wooden tower in the world is "very sick"
"Exquisite and majestic leaning against the sky, the first work of floating pictures in the sea" "As the peaks rise above the sky, the town of Vatican Palace in Wanmuhuanhuan"... These verses praising the wooden pagodas of Yingxian County praised the great creations of ancient craftsmen in our country .
Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, also known as Buddha Temple Sakyamuni Pagoda, was built in 1056 with a height of 67.31 meters and was listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
Together with the Eiffel Tower in France and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, it is called the "Three Wonders of the World".
In his book "History of Chinese Architecture", Ito Chuta, the founder of modern Japanese architecture, compared the wooden pagodas in Yingxian with Japanese wooden pagodas in this way: This is the same, every layer uses the same method of dougong, it is not to be discussed which is better.
The wooden pagoda also has many auxiliary cultural relics such as Buddha statues, mural paintings, plaques and couplets, and inscriptions.
In the second half of the 20th century, many precious Liao Dynasty cultural relics such as Buddhist scriptures and "Pharmaceutical Collection" were also found in the tower.
However, this thousand-year-old tower built in the Liao Dynasty was "sick".
After wind and rain erosion, earthquake damage, and war damage, the wooden tower body has been twisted and deformed.
Especially in the 1930s, the mud wall between the second and fifth floors of the wooden tower was demolished, which had a serious impact on the structure of the wooden tower.
The reporter saw in the "The Complete Works of Liang Sicheng" that in 1933, Liang Sicheng, Mo Zongjiang and others of the China Institute of Architecture, when surveying and mapping the wooden pagoda in Yingxian County for the first time, believed that "the current situation of this pagoda is not bad. Rotten crack".
At that time, relevant people in Yingxian wanted to build the tower, and Liang Sicheng was enthusiastic about joining.
However, the wooden pagoda was quickly "repaired" without the participation of Liang Sicheng and others.
Originally, the four bright layers on the top of the tower, except for one of the four positive directions in the southeast, northwest, and the other were installed with lattice doors, the rest were mud walls with diagonal braces inside.
After this repair, all the mud walls were demolished and replaced with grid doors.
It turned out that the local people who advocated building the tower believed that the Linglong pagoda was not sleek and damaged Feng Shui.
Therefore, the mud wall was changed into a light and airy grid door.
Liang Sicheng deplored it over and over again, calling it "the biggest misfortune of the wooden pagoda in more than 800 years."
He believes that "this kind of stucco wall can shelter from wind and rain, and the slanting is especially strong for the structure. Recently, the county gentry removed the wall without authorization and replaced it with a lattice door, which not only destroyed the valuable ancient murals, but also changed the ancient buildings. The original shape of the tower has a great impact on the warranty of the tower. In the near future, it must be restored to its original state, otherwise it will be enough to shorten the life of the tower."
More than ten years later, the "morbid state" shown by Muta confirmed Liang Sicheng's worries.
In 1950, when Mo Zongjiang, then an associate professor of the Department of Construction at Tsinghua University, participated in the Yanbei Cultural Relics Survey Group to visit the wooden pagoda again, he found that it had been twisted and tilted, and some of its components had come off and split.
The reporter consulted Mo Zongjiang's "Report of the Yanbei Cultural Relics Investigation Team". He lamented in the book: "Since the mud wall was demolished and turned into a grid door, it has only been 14 or five years since the tower can be seen Inclined to the northeast. The columns in the second floor slope the most to the northeast, the upper center of gravity has left the center, most of the mortises of the column heads have been loosened, or have been split due to tilting and twisting. If this is allowed to If it continues to deteriorate, it will be more difficult to repair and may even collapse suddenly."
"After the mud wall is removed, the lateral stiffness and torsional stiffness of the wooden tower are reduced, so under the action of wind load and vibration load, the amount of deformation is increased compared to the previous one." Li Tieying, professor of the School of Civil Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology Say.
In 2004, the Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau mentioned in the "Report on the Repair and Protection Projects of Wooden Towers in Yingxian County" that the wooden towers were "sick": the tower has been distorted and deformed, the load is unbalanced, and there has been severe tilt and compression. The northeast slope is 65 cm, and the tower body is compressed by 88 cm in total. The relative subsidence value of the north corner column on the west side of the second-story outer trough is 20 cm. The southwest column of the Nanping column slopes to the northeast by 50 cm. The lower part of the tower body has many load-bearing parts. Dangers such as component splitting, beam breakage, and structural flashover dislocation occurred.
From June 1999 to May 2000, entrusted by the Yuanying County Wooden Pagoda Repair and Protection Project Management Committee, the former Shanxi Provincial Ancient Building Protection Research Institute conducted a special survey of the damaged condition of the wooden pagoda. The surveying and mapping only lasted 6 months.
A cultural relics worker who asked not to be named told reporters that they worked hard at that time to survey and map the damaged components in dangerous and hidden places, and found more than 300 damaged points such as splits, breaks, and defects.
"Mutta is indeed'ill', and is still very sick." said the cultural relic worker.
Local reinforcement and protection work should be early rather than late
In 2007, the China Cultural Heritage Research Institute became the technical lead unit of the wooden tower protection project.
After more than ten years of monitoring, the research institute found that in recent years, the tilt of the two-story bright layer has continued to increase from southwest to northeast, but there has been no sudden change in the tilt deformation process.
Yong Xinqun, a research librarian from the China Cultural Heritage Research Institute at Yingxian Wooden Pagoda Conservation Research Institute, gave a detailed explanation of the monitoring results to reporters.
He said that the deformation of the wooden tower continues to develop steadily. The largest deformation is currently located on the southwest side of the second floor. Among them, the No. 23 column has the largest amount of inclination. The amount of inclination of the column measured in 2015 (the center of the column head relative to the center of the column foot ) Over 56 cm.
In the past five years, its tilt horizontal offset has also developed the most, with an average of more than 2 mm per year.
According to Yong Xinqun, the tilt and deformation of other pillars generally gradually decrease from southwest to northeast. There are individual pillars on the north and northeast sides that tilt outward, so the deformation of the entire second-story octagonal outer groove is pushed from southwest to northeast. State, the octagonal inner groove also has such a tendency to deform.
The tilt deformation of the second floor is reflected in the changes in the height of the column heads. Some column heads settle due to inward inclination, and some column heads rise due to outward inclination, and the elevations of the upper layers of columns also have corresponding changes.
"The continuous increase in tilt indicates that the wooden tower is not in a stable state. For heavily tilted columns, if targeted reinforcement and protection measures are not taken, they may lose stability locally, and even collapse locally or as a whole during geological disasters." Yong Xin Qun said.
The reporter stood in the west and looked at the wooden tower, and found that the eaves of the second floor were obviously sinking and the pillars were inclined inward.
Some of the pillars were seriously inclined, and many wooden components were cracked, split, de-tenoned, and crushed.
Because tourists are prohibited from climbing for many years, the wooden tower has become a home for pigeons.
Yong Xinqun believes that through monitoring over the past few years, the shape, characteristics and rate of deformation of the wooden pagoda have been basically understood.
In this case, targeted local reinforcement and protection with less intervention can be implemented, and it should be done sooner rather than later.
"On the one hand, it can play a role in disaster prevention, and on the other hand, it can buy time for in-depth research and the preparation of comprehensive and adequate repair plans." Yong Xinqun said.
No "prescription"
The wooden tower has been "distorted" for at least 70 years.
The reporter combed and found that in the 1970s and 1980s, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage organized experts to carry out emergency reinforcements, but it could not stop the wooden tower from continuing to deform.
This repair project includes strengthening the base of the wooden tower, replacing the damaged floor, strengthening the main beam with holes, strengthening the split columns, repairing the bucket arch, remaking the flat railings, and repairing the doors, windows, and fences of the wooden tower. The roof tiles were repaired, and other buildings in the Buddhist temple were renovated.
"When I was young, the wooden pagoda was still in tatters, and some people fell from the upper floor to the next. After that repair, the railings, floor slabs, stairs, etc. have become strong." Du, former director of the Fogong Temple Cultural Relics Store in Yingxian County Fu said.
However, there were mistakes in this repair.
The reporter learned from the "Historical Experience of the Maintenance and Reinforcement of Wooden Pagodas in Yingxian County" by Meng Fanxing and Zhang Changgeng that the two triangular braces of the "temporary support" were misplaced, and the effect was counterproductive and the harm was greater than the benefit.
On the evening of October 9, the reporter met Zhang Changgeng, an 85-year-old cultural relic worker in Datong City, Shanxi Province. He had a better understanding of the rescue and reinforcement project of the wooden pagoda.
The old man said frankly: "There were indeed mistakes during maintenance, and many remedial measures were taken later."
In the early 1990s, the repair and protection of the wooden pagoda was once again on the agenda.
But because of disputes, it never landed.
The reporter consulted the archives of Yingxian Culture and Tourism Bureau and learned that in the past 30 years, the research and protection of wooden pagodas has gone through two stages.
The first phase was from the official establishment of the wooden tower maintenance project in Yingxian County in 1991, and the "lifting and repairing" program was suspended in 2006.
The second stage has been since 2007 when the China Cultural Heritage Research Institute became the technical lead unit of the wooden tower protection project.
Both the overall repair plan in the first phase and the partial reinforcement plan in the second phase were not implemented due to disputes.
From the establishment of the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda Renovation and Protection Project Management Committee in 1999 to 2004, the relevant cultural relics departments successively invited more than 50 experts to inspect the wooden pagodas, and commissioned 23 colleges and universities, scientific research departments, survey and design units to complete more than 40 Based on this preliminary survey project, they produced programs such as "falling frame overhaul", "status reinforcement", "lifting repair", and "steel support support".
Experts from all walks of life are arguing about the pros and cons of different schemes.
Chai Zejun, the chief engineer and deputy director of the Wooden Tower Repair and Protection Project Management Committee of Ying County, had analyzed these four repair methods for reporters during his lifetime: the implementation of "falling frame overhaul" was technically mature and could thoroughly strengthen damaged components and correct distortions, but The replacement rate of components is high, and the storage and fire fighting tasks of disassembled components are also great;
"Reinforcement of the status quo" preserves a lot of historical information, but it cannot fundamentally solve the damage and deformation of the wooden tower. If the reinforcement is not good, it may cause more trouble;
"Lifting and repairing" is to lift the lighter part of the upper part of the wooden tower, and use traditional repair methods to disassemble and repair the lower part of the tower body, which can fundamentally cure the disease in the lower part of the wooden tower and retain more historical information, but the lifting device has high technological content. , The technology is complex, difficult, risky, and investment large;
"Supporting and repairing" is to use steel racks between the inner and outer trough columns of the wooden tower to support the wooden tower, which is loaded by the steel frame.
The tower body, platform foundation, and the weight of the steel frame installed in the tower are more harmful to the wooden tower foundation.
The steel frame is used to support the tower, which will damage the main load-bearing components of the wooden tower and change the internal load-bearing system of the wooden tower and change the original appearance of the wooden tower.
In order to carefully select the repair plan, in 2002, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shanxi Provincial Government, the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda Repair and Protection Project Management Committee held a plan review and demonstration meeting in Taiyuan. 7 academicians and 34 experts participated.
The meeting determined the overall idea of the wooden tower repair plan to "upgrade and repair" by means of a registered vote.
In 2003, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage approved this idea and related projects.
However, in 2006, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held the "Yingxian Wooden Tower Lifting and Repairing Plan Expert Review Meeting" in Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province, and concluded that the "Yingxian Wooden Tower Seismic Reinforcement Plan" and the "Yingxian Wooden Tower Protection Project Lifting and Repairing Plan" 》As a project implementation plan, it is not mature enough and does not have the conditions for implementation.
In addition, the analysis and research of the current work results on the current situation of the wooden tower, especially the safety situation, are not yet in place, and there is a lack of particularly convincing scientific judgments. Further research is needed for the method of repair.
Therefore, the two programs are suspended.
In 2007, the China Cultural Heritage Research Institute took over the preliminary results and became the technical leader of the wooden tower protection project.
In response to the continuous development of wooden towers, at the end of 2014, the reinforcement project of the heavily inclined parts and severely damaged components of the wooden towers in Yingxian County was launched, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage stopped the project due to unclear results.
From 1992 to 2001, Du Fu, then director of the cultural relics storage of Fogong Temple in Yingxian County, specially went to Daxinganling to purchase wood for the overhaul of Yingmu Pagoda.
Because the other party requested the remittance first before shipping, the higher-level leaders were afraid that they would not be insured and failed to buy it.
The wood bought back later was stored in the Buddhist temple.
In order to ensure the fire safety of the wooden tower, the timber was moved to the local lumber factory by his successor Qin Liangtai as the repair of the wooden tower was delayed.
During the 7 years as the director, Qin Liangtai coincided with the time when the maintenance and protection of the wooden pagoda received the most attention.
"I think the main reason is that there is no unified opinion. No absolute authority or expert has decided that we will repair it according to this plan." Qin Liangtai said that it should be done. The distortion of the wooden pagoda can be corrected best, and at least it should be corrected. Protect it and don't let it twist again.
"If construction has not been started like this, will it deform and increase? What are the consequences of the aggravation?" Qin Liangtai was worried.
"Unbearable weight" repair system
This high-rise wooden tower that has experienced thousands of years of ups and downs is a rare treasure and an isolated case in the country.
However, its protection research strength is relatively weak at present.
According to relevant provisions of the Cultural Relics Protection Law, local people's governments at various levels are responsible for the protection of cultural relics within their administrative regions.
However, Yingxian County where the wooden tower is located is an agricultural county. The general public budget revenue in 2019 is less than 180 million yuan, and there is greater pressure on the environmental improvement of the wooden tower and the demolition of illegal buildings.
Local financial resources also restrict the development of the "Second Battlefield" of wooden tower research and the protection of its attached cultural relics.
According to a person in charge of Yingxian County, on the one hand, due to the delay in making plans for the wooden tower repair plan, some experts proposed to open up a "second battlefield" at Longshou Mountain, 8 kilometers near the wooden tower, and establish a study on the protection of wooden structures in China. In the center, an experimental wooden tower with a ratio of 1:1 will be built to accumulate experience and cultivate talents for future wooden tower maintenance. On the other hand, Yingxian also plans to build a Chinese wooden structure ancient building museum in Longshou Mountain, which can be stored and displayed in the future The damaged components replaced by the wooden pagoda can provide a safe storage environment for the hundreds of precious Liao Dynasty cultural relics of the wooden pagoda.
But both ideas are constrained by funding.
The special protection and management organization for wooden towers, "Yingxian Wooden Tower Protection Research Institute", is a unit-level institution under Yingxian Culture and Tourism Bureau, with 28 formal staff.
The main responsibility of this organization was "fire prevention, theft prevention and sabotage". Now it wants to catch up on research and cultivate a team of talents that cannot be taken away.
"Research has just started, and it is difficult to recruit talents due to the influence of location, organization, and level." An insider said.
Since becoming the technological lead unit of the wooden tower protection project, the China Cultural Heritage Research Institute has undertaken most of the work of the wooden tower protection and repair, but due to the constraints of manpower, conditions, and capabilities, it is difficult to form a joint force in individual combat.
In the past ten years, they have mainly carried out structural deformation monitoring, roofing maintenance, and preparation of wooden tower protection plans, but it is difficult to fundamentally alleviate the disease of wooden towers.
In the near future, they will also implement 9 projects including refined wooden tower surveying and mapping and information retention, deformation monitoring, wooden tower plaque and couplet protection, wooden tower construction history research, wooden tower reinforcement plan adjustment and optimization.
At present, the research institute's investment in wooden tower protection research is also weak.
Dean Chai Xiaoming said that “cure” wooden pagodas needs to be tested first, but now the cultural relics in the hospital are lagging behind and there is a great need to strengthen the construction of large-scale test equipment and equipment.
"Now there are only two or three people in charge of the wooden pagoda in the academy, and there is no clear designation of the person in charge. It is sometimes difficult for ordinary researchers to coordinate work." Yong Xinqun said.
Regarding the main contradiction of "distortion and deformation" of wooden pagodas, some experts said that in the final analysis, "discussion but not decision" is due to insufficient basic research work of wooden pagodas and unclear understanding of wooden pagodas.
Some experts pointed out that the digitization of cultural relics is an important means of cultural heritage protection and an important way to realize the permanent protection of cultural relics information. However, the digitization of wooden pagodas has not yet been fully carried out; under tremendous pressure, the traditional repairs are as old as they are. The repair method of patching is difficult to play a role. The three-layer beam and bucket-type wooden components under the wooden tower need to be replaced. This will inevitably be opposed by many people, and it is necessary to come up with convincing investigation materials for each wooden component.
Li Tieying said that there is no quantitative basis for judging whether the wooden tower will tilt or collapse.
Answering this question requires experimentation, and people are generally unwilling to do it because of too much money.
In addition, “People’s understanding of the structural performance of ancient wooden buildings is relatively weak, and errors are prone to occur in the repair process.” Li Tieying said, for example, the old pillars have been pressed for nearly a thousand years. Generally high?
The use of new and old components also requires in-depth experiments.
In order not to leave any regrets
Many interviewees said that Yingxian Wooden Pagoda is a masterpiece of ancient architectural art.
It is time to hurry up and convene the best "doctors" to study the "condition" to prevent the wooden tower from being delayed in the work of "cutting" and protecting the wooden pagoda in individual combat.
Some experts said that the protection and research strength should be further strengthened. The relevant departments should systematically sort out the existing research results of wooden pagodas, formulate several major topics that need to be overcome in the repair and protection of wooden pagodas, and include them in the key work of the National Cultural Heritage Administration and Shanxi Province. , Convene the nation's top professional forces in an open attitude, advocate cross-field and multi-disciplinary cooperation, form a joint force, and focus on solving problems.
Li Tieying believes that the preliminary basic investigation work for repairs is very important.
From the top of the tower to the bottom of the tower, each wooden component needs to be "diagnosed" before repair, to determine whether it is to be retained, repaired or replaced.
Based on the judgment of various types and layers of wooden components, an evaluation of the overall structure of the wooden tower is finally formed and a repair method is provided.
"Investigation cannot find novices. It is necessary to find people who have experience in the performance of ancient wooden structures and are familiar with the repair methods of ancient buildings to make scientific and reasonable judgments." Li Tieying said.
In terms of specific implementation, Li Tieying suggested that the State Administration of Cultural Heritage adopt a project delegation system, clarify and specify useful projects for wooden tower repairs, and assign them to special personnel.
For example, some experts are responsible for conducting model tests and figure out how much the wooden tower in Yingxian County is deformed and there is a risk of collapse; some experts are responsible for the investigation of all wooden components of the wooden tower; others are responsible for organizing review and review, and strive to work effectively and reasonably.
"The experts you find are very important. We must objectively evaluate who can do this well, and there must be a reasonable way of funding arrangements, so that people who really work must not suffer." He said.
Chai Xiaoming suggested opening up wooden towers to study the "second battlefield", and taking the opportunity of building "experimental towers" to gather the best teams in related majors across the country for collective research.
On the basis of research, scientifically carry out repair work as early as possible to prevent the wooden tower from continuously tilting.
Many interviewed experts hold similar ideas.
Li Tieying said: “This work is very useful, and many things will be understood during the construction process. Some people are still afraid of taking risks if you directly repair the wooden tower. Once you have experience, you can build the wooden tower in reverse."
A scholar who has been doing salvage records and surveys of cultural relics in Shanxi for many years emphasized that each repair is an interference with the historical information of the wooden pagoda. It is recommended that the digital protection of the wooden pagoda be done as soon as possible before the repairs are carried out. The wooden pagoda retains digital archives, and at the same time detailed archaeological investigations have been made for the numerous Buddhist remains in the wooden pagoda.
Regarding the water supply and drainage around the wooden tower, the demolition of illegal buildings, and the construction of the wooden tower museum, Yingxian hopes to get more financial support from the higher-level government to eliminate potential safety hazards caused by the surrounding environment.
The local area also hopes that the state, provinces and cities will provide support in earthquake monitoring and early warning, disaster prevention guidance, etc.
"When there are top scholars and engineers in related fields who have long-term research and tackling key issues around the wooden pagoda, and the key issues are clearly understood, there will be a repair plan." This is the expectation of a scholar in the field of cultural relics protection.