China came up with a repair plan, recently to restore Shanxi provinces' Wooden Pagoda, in Yingxian county, after 24 years of waiting and a deteriorating situation.

This pagoda, built in 1056, in the Liao Dynasty (916-1125), is the oldest and tallest structure of its kind in the world and is truly a wonder, having survived earthquakes, storms, wars and other disasters across the centuries. It has, however, been leaning since the end of last century.

The pagoda is so famous in China that tackling this renovation work is not easy, in view of its precarious situation, even though China started preservation work in 1989.

Bai Xuebing, the deputy chief of the State Cultural Heritage administration, "(We have) agreed on the reinforcement methods for the leaning, damaged parts, as proposed by the Cultural Heritage Academy, and discussed it over and over with experts, and finally approved it, now the proposal needs a bit of polishing and will begin next year."

The pagoda is 67 meters (221 ft) tall, or about a 20-story building, and was one of the first group of historical and cultural sites under State protection, announced in 1961.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw