Small Wild Goose Pagoda

The Small Wild Goose Pagoda, is one of two significant pagodas in the city of Xi'an, China. The Small Wild Goose Pagoda is located in the Jianfu (Felicity) Temple at about 1.5 km outside the south gate of Xi'an.

Height & Characteristic of Small Wild Goose Pagoda
The Small Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 707–709 during the Tang Dynasty under Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (r 705–710). The pagoda stood 45 m (147 ft) until the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake. The earthquake shook the pagoda and damaged it so that it now stands at a height of 43 m (141 ft) with fifteen levels of tiers.

The pagoda has a brick frame built around a hollow interior, and its square base and shape reflect the building style of other pagodas from the era.

History of Small Wild Goose Pagoda
The Jianfu Temple was originally the residence of Princess Xiang Cheng, a daughter of Emperor Tai Zong (Li Shimin), which covers half of the area of Kai Huafang Lane.

The Jianfu Temple was built in 648 AD to pay homage to the Emperor Li Zhi of Tang dynasty upon the centenary of his death by his son Emperor Rui Zong, Li Dan. Therefore, it was originally named "The Xianfu Temple (The Temple of Offering Happiness)". Six years later, the Empress Wu Zetian took the throne by deposing her son (the Emperor). In order to show her memorial of her dead husband, the Xianfu Temple was renamed the Jianfu Temple and the name still being used now.

The Jianfu Temple had been damaged and tattered and tattered because of the year-round wars in the later Tang dynasty, so the temple was moved to the southern yard (that is the Tower Yard). The present Jianfu Temple has been formed and established after the remedy and maintenance of dynasties from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing.

The pagoda of the Jianfu Temple was built from 707 to 709 A.D (in the regin of Emperor Jing Long) and it was named after the Temple. The pagoda had originally 15 storeys, with architectural pattern of multiples of eaves being constructed by water polished blue bricks, whose shape was outstanding and beautiful. For it was built almost in the same dynasty and bear similarity to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in architecture and height, it came to be called the Small Wild Goose Pagoda.

Inside the pagoda, there is a huge iron bell dating back to the Jin Dynasty in 1192 (the 3rd year in the regin of Ming Chang). The Buddhist and monks struck the bell every morning. The sound of the bell is crisp and pleasant; spreading as far as five kilometers, hence the "Morning Bell-ring of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda" has become one of the eight scenic features in the Central Shaanxi Plain--- Chang'an. Now the Small Wild Goose Pagoda has only 13-storey and is about 43 meters in height. The top two-storey of the pagoda were destroyed in a strong earthquake happened in the 34th year (1555 AD) of the reign of Emperor Jia Jing in the Ming Dynasty in central Shaanxi.