Discover Xi'an
Big Wild Goose Pagoda & Da Ci'en Temple
大雁塔・大慈恩寺
The brick pagoda the monk Xuanzang built in 652 to house the Buddhist scriptures he carried back from India, still standing in a working temple. It is Xi'an's emblem and the anchor of the city's liveliest modern plaza.
The story
What makes this place special
The pagoda was built in 652 at Da Ci'en Temple at the direction of the monk Xuanzang, to hold the Buddhist scriptures and images he had brought back from a seventeen-year overland journey to India - the historical figure behind the Monkey King story. It began as five storeys; it was rebuilt as a seven-storey tower under Wu Zetian in the early 700s, and now stands 64.1m including a base about 4.2m high. It has leaned for centuries: the tilt grew from the Kangxi period to about a metre by 1996, driven partly by groundwater extraction, and after nearby wells were sealed from 1996 it began very slowly correcting itself, moving back 9.4mm by the end of 2006. The North Plaza in front of it, with its fountains, was only completed in 2003.
What you’ll discover
Two separate things sharing an address. The temple is a working Buddhist complex of halls on a north-south axis, with a large hall of the Buddha and, at the back, the brick pagoda itself, which you can climb inside - a square spiral of steep wooden stairs with a small window on each floor looking out over the city on all four sides. In front, outside the temple wall, is the North Plaza, a vast modern pedestrian square with the largest fountain show in Asia by local claim, which runs to music at set times and draws thousands in the evening.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Climbing the pagoda is a separate ticket from the temple, bought inside, and the stairs are steep, narrow and two-way with no queue management - if you want the climb, do it in the first half hour of opening.
- The fountain show in the North Plaza is the real local event, free, and timed - typically a couple of shows in the afternoon and more in the evening, longer at weekends. Check the day's times; standing on the north side with the lit pagoda behind the water is the shot.
- The temple is at its best during morning chanting, when it is a monastery rather than a monument. By mid-morning the pagoda queue defines the whole visit.
- Look for the stone tablets either side of the pagoda's base entrance - Tang-dynasty inscriptions, including the preface by the emperor to Xuanzang's translations, which is the thing Chinese visitors come to see and foreigners walk past.
- The whole district around it - plazas, malls, the Tang Paradise park and the Great Tang All Day Mall - is a modern leisure zone, so treat the pagoda as one stop in an evening rather than a half-day on its own.
- The North Plaza has no shade and reflects heat off the paving; in July and August wait for the evening shows rather than arriving in the afternoon.
When to come
Early morning for the temple and the climb; after dark for the plaza and the lit pagoda with the fountains. Avoid the middle of the day entirely in summer. Spring and autumn evenings are the best combination.
Getting around
The temple courtyards and the North Plaza are flat, paved and easy, so a wheelchair or a bad knee can see the complex and the fountain show comfortably. The pagoda cannot be climbed - it is steep wooden stairs with high risers, no lift, and no alternative - and the temple halls sit on platforms up steps with raised thresholds. The plaza is very large, so plan where you are dropped off; it is a long push from the main road to the pagoda gate.
Worth knowing before you go
The free musical fountain on the North Square runs roughly four times a day (around 12:00, 16:00, 19:00 and 21:00) for about 25 minutes - the evening show is the one worth timing your visit for, and it costs nothing.
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