The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 652 to house the sutras that the monk Xuanzang hauled back from India — the seventeen-year journey that later inspired Journey to the West. The seven-storey brick tower, leaning slightly and standing 64 metres, is the enduring symbol of Tang-dynasty Xi’an.
The pagoda sits inside the working Da Ci’en Temple, all incense and jujube trees; climb the narrow wooden stairs for a view over the axis of the modern city. Come back after dark for the fountain show on the north square, when the floodlit tower does its best Tang-dynasty impression.