Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda or Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Chinese: 大雁塔; pinyin: Dàyàn tǎ, lit. 'big swan goose pagoda'), is a monumental Buddhist pagoda located in southern Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. It was built in c. 652 during the Tang dynasty and originally had five stories. It was rebuilt in 704 during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian and its exterior brick façade was renovated during the Ming dynasty.
One of the pagoda's many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of Gautama Buddha that were brought to China from India by the seventh-century Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator Xuanzang. Today, the interior walls of the pagoda feature engraved statues of Buddha by the renowned 7th-century artist Yan Liben.
This pagoda was added to the World Heritage List, along with many other sites along the Silk Road, as part of the "Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor" site in 2014.
The original pagoda was built during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (r. 649–683), then standing at a height of 60 metres (200 ft). This construction of rammed earth with a stone exterior facade collapsed five decades later. The ruling Empress Wu Zetian had the pagoda rebuilt and added five new stories by the year 704.
A massive earthquake in 1556 heavily damaged the pagoda and reduced it by three stories, to its current height of seven stories.
The structure leans very perceptibly (several degrees) to the west. Its related structure, the 8th century Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, only suffered minor damage in the 1556 earthquake (unrepaired to this day). The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was extensively repaired during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and renovated again in 1964. The pagoda currently stands at a height of 64 metres (210 ft) tall and from the top it offers views over the city of Xi'an.
The tower sits inside the Daci'en Temple complex ("mercy and kindness"). The Daci'en Temple was built in 648 to honor the Empress Zhangsun. The temple complex is open to the public and it receives millions of tourists each year. It can be accessed from the Dayanta station of line 3 of the Xi'an Metro. One entrance is located at the northeast corner of the north plaza. A new entrance has opened during the end of 2017.
In the third year of Tang Yonghui (652 AD), Xuanzang, in order to preserve the hundreds of Sanskrit scriptures he brought back from India, oversaw the construction of a pagoda in the western style at the Da Ci’en Temple. Initially known as the Ci’en Temple Pagoda, it was later renamed the Wild Goose Pagoda. To differentiate it from the smaller pagoda built later in Jianfu Temple, it became known as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. As for the origin of the name “Wild Goose Pagoda,” the most widely accepted theory is that it comes from the legend of “burying a wild goose and building a pagoda.”
The original tower was a five-story structure with an outer layer of brick and an inner core of soil. During the Chang’an years of the Wu Zhou Dynasty, the tower was already damaged due to weeds growing between the brick seams. Empress Wu Zetian and the nobles donated funds to demolish the original tower and rebuild it as a seven-story square pavilion-style tower. During the Dali years, it was expanded to ten stories, but later destroyed by war. It was subsequently rebuilt again as a seven-story tower. During the Changxing years of the Five Dynasties period, the later Tang Dynasty (930-933 AD), the governor of West Beijing, An Chongba [zh], oversaw the repair of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It was during this time that the pagoda took on its basic form as we know it today. By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty, only the Big Wild Goose Pagoda remained of Ci’en Temple. In the second year of the Chenghua reign of the Ming Dynasty (1466), Ci’en Temple, including the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, underwent a complete renovation. In the thirty-second year of the Wanli Era (1604), a special restoration was carried out on the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, during which the ladders inside each level were reinstalled, and an additional sixty-centimeter-thick layer of cladding was built around the original Tang Dynasty structure. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda began to tilt, and by 1996, the tilt had reached about 1 meter. Since then, restoration efforts have been made to stabilize and recover the structure. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda received special protection measures. In 1963, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit, and in 2013, it was inscribed as part of the “Silk Road: Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor Network” on the World Heritage List.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located in the northern part of Daci’en Temple and is a pavilion-style square brick pagoda composed of a base, body, and top. The total height of the pagoda, including the base, is 64.1 meters. The pagoda’s base is approximately 4.2 meters high, with a north-south width of about 48.8 meters. The length of the lowest side of the tower body is 25 meters, and the upper levels gradually taper, forming a cone-like shape. At the junction of each floor, there are square pillars, balustrades, arches, and dougong, all built in imitation of wooden structures. Each level of the tower contains open rooms. The first and second levels have 10 hidden columns on each side, with the rooms on these levels divided into 9 sections. The third and fourth levels have 8 hidden columns on each side, dividing the rooms into 7 sections. From the fifth to the seventh levels, there are 6 hidden columns on each side, dividing the rooms into 5 sections. Each room is adorned with frescoes, mainly depicting Xuanzang’s journey to the west to retrieve the scriptures. On the first floor, there are stone doors on all four sides, with engraved Buddha and Heavenly King statues on the lintels. Each floor has a brick archway on all four sides, and the interior of the tower is equipped with stairs for ascending, with a total of 248 steps. On all four sides of the ground floor, the archway doors have door lintels and frames made of bluestone, with line carvings of Buddha figures above. The west lintel features a carving of Amitabha Buddha giving a sermon.
In the brick niches on both sides outside the south door of the pagoda’s ground floor, there are two stone tablets. One tablet contains the “Preface to the Sacred Teachings of the Great Tang Sanzang,” written by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty in the 22nd year of the Zhenguan era (648) for the scriptures translated by Xuanzang. The other tablet contains the “Record of the Preface to the Sacred Teachings of the Great Tang Sanzang,” written by Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi for the same preface. Both stone tablets were inscribed by Chu Suiliang and are relatively well-preserved, with clear handwriting. A coiled chi dragon is engraved on the top of the stele, the sides are adorned with carvings of curly-leaf trailing grass, and the pedestal features patterns of celestial beings dancing and playing music.
In 1954, the internal spiral staircase of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was replaced, and the inner walls of the tower were refurbished. In 1961, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was designated as a Major cultural heritage sites under national-level protection. In 1962, lightning protection equipment was installed on the tower. In 1963, the top of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was refurbished. In 1990, after receiving approval from the State Bureau of Cultural Relics, the custodians of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda organized personnel to carry out maintenance work, which continued until 1992. The main tasks included reinforcing the eaves of the second level, repairing the top of the pagoda, and replacing some damaged bricks on the ground floor. In June 1995, the lightning protection system of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda underwent a comprehensive upgrade, which lasted for one year. From 2000 to 2003, a project to prevent water seepage and reinforce the pagoda’s top and eaves was completed. In 2008, the Wenchuan earthquake caused leakage at the top of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The related repair work began in June 2012 and was successfully completed. On June 22, 2014, the “Silk Road: Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor Road Network” project, jointly submitted by China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, was successfully inscribed at the 38th World Heritage Committee session. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, along with the Small Wild Goose Pagoda and Xingjiao Temple, was included in the World Heritage List.
In 1956, the Xi’an Municipal People’s Government established a dedicated institution for the protection of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, known as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda Custodian Office. The custodian office is mainly responsible for the daily maintenance of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, handling emergencies, organizing large-scale maintenance projects, and overseeing tourism development. It has been successively under the administration of the Xi’an Bureau of Culture, Bureau of Cultural Relics, and Bureau of Cultural Relics and Parks. In 1983, the management of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda Custodian Office was transferred to the Xi’an Municipal Committee of Ethnic Affairs. On July 16, 2013, the Xi’an Municipal People’s Government reviewed and passed the Measures for the Protection and Management of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda of Xi’an, which came into effect on August 26, 2013.
Due to the over-exploitation of local groundwater, the tilt of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda began to accelerate from 1945 onwards. From 1985 to 1996, the tilt rate reached an average of 1 millimeter per year. By 1996, according to field measurements conducted by the surveying and mapping unit of the People’s Republic of China, the tilt had already reached 1.0105 meters. In response, the Xi’an municipal government began implementing well-sealing measures in 1996 for over 400 captive wells in the units surrounding the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. This allowed the pagoda to gradually return to its original position starting in 1997. By the end of 2006, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda had shifted 9.4 millimeters in the opposite direction of the tilt, at an average rate of about 1 millimeter per year, with a relatively stable speed.
In 1988, the design of Xi’an’s city emblem was officially completed, with the silhouette of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda as its main component. In early 2001, the South Square of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was officially completed in front of Daci’en Temple. Covering an area of 32.6 acres, the square includes a statue of Xuanzang, landscaped gardens, granite paving, and a water bridge, among other facilities. In December 2002, demolition and reconstruction officially began on the north side of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. In March 2003, construction of the North Plaza of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda commenced, and by December 2003, it was completed. The entire plaza stretches 300 meters from north to south and 450 meters from east to west, covering a total area of 200 acres. It mainly consists of a central water feature, the Tang Culture Theme Plaza, open gardens, an art promenade, and commercial facilities. In 2013, the original 20 yuan off-season ticket and 30 yuan peak-season ticket prices for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda were met with complaints from tourists. However, after the complaints, the peak-season ticket price was instead raised to 40 yuan. In response, the Shaanxi Provincial Price Bureau issued a statement on its official website, stating that the price increase had not gone through the approval process and that the decision to raise the price was actually a staff error. In addition, in 2013, to ensure the Big Wild Goose Pagoda’s role as an absolute landmark in its surroundings, the Xi’an Municipal Planning Bureau announced the buffer zone around the pagoda. The specific boundaries of the buffer zone are as follows: from the North to the South Second Ring Road, from the South to Yannan Third Road, from the West to Cuihua Road, and from the East to Furong East Road. It also includes three “line of sight corridors” stretching from Yanta Road to Hepingmen Gate, Yanta West Road to Hengguang Road, and Yanta South Road to the red line of Yannan Fourth Road. The buffer zone is divided into height control areas of 6 meters, 9 meters, 12 meters, 18 meters, 24 meters, 36 meters, 45 meters, and 60 meters.