Facing Xi'anmen Street at Xisi in downtown Beijing, there is a small brick pagoda, called the Pagoda of Old Man Wansong.
During the Kin and Yuan dynasties there was once a Buddhist monk who called himself Wansong Yelao and said that he used to be the teacher of Yelü Chucai, a descendant of the royal family of the Liao Dynasty who had made important contributions over his thirty years in office. For this reason the old monk earned the respect of the people. After his death his remains were buried in the capital and the brick pagoda was built as his monument. That took place more than six hundred years ago.
The pagoda is about a dozen meters tall, multi-eaved, octagonal, with nine storeys. Though it was repaired in 1605, 1753, 1927 and at other times, the basic style of the Kin and Yuan dynasties has not been changed.
