[1] The pagoda, which has survived several large earthquakes throughout the centuries, reached a level of such fame within China that it was given the generic nickname of the "Muta" (Chinese: 木塔; pinyin: mùtǎ; lit.

[5] The historian Nancy Steinhardt writes "only something like the memory of an imperial youth might account for the construction of such a phenomenal building in such an out-of-the way place.

"[5] Also, the 1050s was a decade which marked the end of a Buddhist kalpa, which would signify the Pagoda of Fogong Temple as an "ultimate death shrine to the Buddha of the age," according to Steinhardt.

[11] However, considerable repairs were needed after Japanese soldiers shot more than two hundred rounds into the pagoda during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

[12] The pagoda features fifty-four different kinds of bracket arms in its construction, the greatest amount for any Liao dynasty structure.

[11] The windows on the eight sides of the pagoda provide views of the countryside, including Mount Heng and the Songgan River.

[5] The Pagoda of Fogong Temple and its surroundings are protected by the SACH branch of the Chinese government, and over 1 million dollars have already been committed to the research on repairing and renovating the precariously standing millennium-old building.

[14] In May 2011, Shanxi provincial authorities stated that the application for the pagoda should be finished by July 2011 for it to be included on the UNESCO list of protected world heritage relics by 2013.

[15] In 2013, the pagoda was placed on China's tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage Site consideration, along with the Fengguo Temple.