The Small Wild Goose
Pagoda is located in the
Jianfu (Felicity) Temple
at about 1.5 km outside
the south gate of Xi’an.
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
homeage 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.
It was recorded on Wang
He’s broken stone
tablets in the Ming
Dynasty (1551 A.D) that
in the 23rd year of the
regin of Emperor Chen
Hua in the Ming dynasty
(1487 A.D), there
happened a strong
earthquake. The body of
the Small Wild Goose
Pagoda was split into
two parts from the top
to the very bottom, with
about one foot in the
middle of the two parts.
This also indicated that
in 1520 AD (the regin of
Emperor Zhen De), there
came another strong
earthquake in Guan Zhong
area (the central plain
of Shaanxi Province).
But oddly enough, the
quake miraculously
re-united the two split
halves over night......
This is very rare and it
amazed the local people,
so they referred to the
miracle as the "Magic
Healing". So there is
still a beautiful saying
quite popular among the
local people in Xi’an
that it was a fairy who
felt sorrow and drove
two cracked halves
together with a magic
whip like driving a
flock of sheep, when she
saw the Small Wild Goose
Pagoda cracked into two
halves.
Many cracks have really
been left on the body of
the Small Wild Goose
Pagoda because of the
earlier earthquakes. In
1965, the Small Wild
Goose Pagoda was
renovated by Xi’an
Municipal Government.
The body of the pagoda
was reinforced with
steel in the middle of
the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th
and the 11th floors ect,
and a lightening rod was
fixed as well on the top
of the 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 storeys and is
about 43 meters in
height. The top two
storeys of the pagoda
were destroyed in a
strong earthquake
happened in the 34th
year (1555 AD) of the
regin of Emperor Jia
Jing in the Ming Dynasty
in central Shaanxi. |