Xi'an Big Wild Goose Pagoda Scenic Area

This guide to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda Scenic Area in Xi'an follows the monk Xuanzang, who slipped out of Chang'an without permission in 629 chasing rumors of true Buddhist scriptures in India, and walked back through the same gates sixteen years later with hundreds of Sanskrit manuscripts nobody in China could yet read. You'll hear how the emperor pardoned his illegal departure and how Xuanzang turned the pagoda, built at his request in 652, into a working scriptorium of monks copying and arguing over every line before checking it against the original. Stand at the base and look up at the seven stacked stories of brick, raised with no steel or modern reinforcement.