LOOK: Ancient temple pagoda split in half by earthquake

The Ganying Temple Pagoda — constructed in Quwo County in 1165 during the Song Dynasty — is a bastion of durability. An earthquake in 1303 cleaved the ancient brick tower down the middle, to stunning aesthetic effect, but nothing — not even a firebombing of the temple complex by the Japanese during World War II — has managed to topple it. Though a middle school has already been built on the ruins of the temple’s great hall, which didn’t survive the Japanese invasion, the octagonal pagoda structure is still standing, 7 stories and 35 meters tall. Imagine China captured these beautiful images of the “Split Tower,” as it’s known in Quwo:

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