The East Pagoda (Dongsi Ta) is one of two surviving Tang-dynasty brick pagodas in Kunming, both built around AD 824 as part of the long-vanished Changle Temple. The pagoda is 13 storeys tall, square in plan, and stands about 40 metres high; its eaves curve gently outwards in the early Tang manner.
Most of the structure dates from a Qing-dynasty reconstruction after the original was damaged by earthquake, but the basic form is faithful to the Tang. The surrounding district, between Jinbi Road and Shulin Street, has been rebuilt in a pastiche of old Kunming style and is now a pedestrian shopping and food zone with the pagoda at its centre. Free to view; you cannot climb inside.