The Square Pagoda is located inside the east gate of the county town. It was constructed with the temple in 1130 during the Southern Song Dynasty and reconstructed between 1265 and 1274. Only the pagoda has survived, and though repeatedly repaired and undergone considerable change, it has retained the style of the Song Dynasty.
The nine-storeyed Square Pagoda, its body built of brick and pent roofs of wood, is more than sixty meters high, one of the highest ancient pagodas in China. The ground storey is octagonal inside and has doors opening in four directions. Between the ground and second storeys there is a built-in floor that connects with the ground floor through an air space. The interior of the other storeys from the second level up is square, and has wooden staircases to reach upper levels. Each storey has doors facing in four directions, and each door is flanked by false lattice windows, like a three-room compartment. As each storey has projecting balconies surrounded by balustrades, people may go out in the open and enjoy the landscape around the pagoda. The inner space from the first to the fifth floor is the same, but from the sixth level up, the body of the pagoda shrinks drastically, making the whole structure of the pagoda look like a vertically erected shuttle, lofty and elegant. This kind of design is not often seen among pagodas in southern China. A huge iron spike, planted right in the middle of the sixth storey and running through the seventh, eighth and ninth storeys, points to the sky. The pagoda's steeple, also made of iron, is composed of a string of gourds covered by a square canopy. Four iron chains link the four corners of the canopy with the four corners of the pagoda roof. The steeple, more than ten meters high, harmonizes with the main body of the pagoda and makes it look more magnificent.
