The Jingzhen Octagonal Pavilion stands on
Jingzhen Hill, 14 kilometers west of Menghai County in the Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan
Province.
The Jingzhen Octagonal Pavilion was built in
1701 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) -- the year 1063 according to the
Dai calendar. It was originally built in a local Hinayana temple, but the temple
was destroyed. The pavilion has retained its former features following three
large-scale repairs.
Built on a brick and wooden structure, the pavilion
consists of a Sumeru base, a body, a roof and a mast. The 15.42-meter-high
pavilion is shaped like a plane of 16 angles with a 2.5-by- 8.6-meter
base. The multiangular walls were built with layered bricks that make up
the body, with 16 columns standing at each angle. With doors on all four sides,
the walls are covered with light red clay and are decorated with pieces of
colored glass and shiny patterns of flowers, animals and figures made from gold
and silver powders. The roof is a wooden, cone-shaped structure. The ridge is
decorated with small golden pagodas, beasts and flame-shaped glass with copper
bells dangling from beneath the eaves. The mast is 16 meters high and is decorated
with flower patterns made of flasks of silver. The pavilion, exquisite and
elegant, is an elaborate work of Buddhist architecture of the Dai ethnic
minority.