Saturday, April 27, 2024

Around The World In 72 Days - Xi'an One - Arriving and the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

Xi'an is an A-List traveler destination. It was the capital of the first emperor of China, Qin Chi Huang, the person who first unified all of China under a single rule. Subsequently, it was the capital city for the Han, Sui, and Tang Dynasties, which covered a time period of over a thousand years. During the Han and Tang periods, Chinese influence and contacts spread over the world. China was considered the most advanced country on earth during the Tang Dynasty. 

The A-List of A-List sites in Xi'an is the Terracotta Army exhibition. We got to that on our second day in Xi'an. On arrival we visited the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. 

Built during the Tang Dynasty period, it was a monument to the importance of Buddhism as a rising force in China. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it.

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. 648 – c. 649 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.  

PICTURES

How Many Pictures Can One Take of A Single Tower (a lot evidently)


 



 




 Spiritual Masters

Photographic Masters


Candid Shots



Other Parts of the Temple


Signs of the World

Xi'an is an important part of China's Corpus

2 comments:

Renee Michelle Goertzen said...

If you don´t have a national backbone, your country is classified as an invertebrate and has to depend on exoskeletons and disadvantageous treaties...

Anonymous said...

MABA-make America Backboned Again! 🤓