Northwest China's Shaanxi province has taken emergency measures to protect the Yan'an Pagoda, an important landmark of the Chinese revolution, from leaning further.

Built during the imperial Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the 44- meter-high octagonal pagoda, is today a major site of historical and cultural interest under the national level protection.

The pagoda stands on Mount Pagoda in the city of Yan'an, in northwest China's Shaanxi province, which was a prestigious base of the Chinese revolution under the leadership of late Chairman Mao Zedong from the mid 1930s to late 1940s. In recent years, Yan' an Pagoda has begun to lean due to frequent landslides.

The nine-storey structure now tilts over 300 mm northwestwards, according to a monitoring technical team.

Provincial Governor Jia Zhibang warned the pagoda now tends to lean even further.

Shaanxi province and Yan'an city have allocated two special funds to renovate the pagoda since new China was founded in 1949. The province has reinforced the mountainsides with piles and concrete to stem landslides, and moved households and planted trees and grass.

Last May, the local government of Yan'an spent approximately 500,000 yuan (some US$61,000) in paving bricks on 2,000- square-meter of platform around the pagoda, an effort to prevent rainfall from infiltrating to the base.

The province is currently raising money for further maintenance, which is expected to cost a total of 65 million yuan (about US$7.8 million).

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