Asia’s Tallest Wooden Pagoda Lost to Fire: A Wake-Up Call for Heritage Safety
A fire destroyed the 16-story wooden pagoda at Jiulong Temple in Mianzhu, Sichuan, reportedly the tallest wooden pagoda in Asia, with no casualties reported. The incident exposes systemic fire-safety vulnerabilities in timber heritage sites and is likely to drive tighter inspections, higher compliance costs, and renewed scrutiny of cultural asset governance.