Squares and Gardens around Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an is world-famous, but you may not know there are squares and gardens around for visitors to admire this ancient and magnificent building. Before or after you visit the pagoda, these places are suitable for relaxation and leisure, and also experiencing locals’ life. Moreover, so many interesting activities and impressive views await you to enjoy.

Take a Photo with Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

Play Tai Chi on South Square  More Pictures

 The most attractive part of the north square is obviously the grand fountain plaza, on which you can enjoy the largest matrix musical fountain in Asia. Composed of 8 neatly arranged pools, the plaza can splash fountains in various styles and heights, and the highest one can reach up to about 60 meters (197 feet), almost as high as the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. As the music plays, the fountain changes its shapes with the rhythms and melodies. When all the nozzles spray water columns upward, the water curtain and the pagoda behind look majestic and fantastic.
 When night falls, it’s the perfect time to enjoy the musical fountain together with the light show. The dark sky just becomes the best background to view the fountain illuminated by colorful lights. Besides, light beams around the pagoda shine in all directions, making the pagoda much more impressive.
 

12:00-12:10	16:00-16:10
19:00-19:10	21:00-21:10
Notes: Every Tuesday, fountains at 12:00 and 16:00 are canceled due to routine maintenance. During Chinese public holidays, the timetable of fountains may be accordingly adjusted, so please check it in advance.

 1. The musical fountain show is free to watch, and the best viewing point is the front middle area of the north square.
2. In windy weather, please protect your camera lens from getting wet by splashing water mist.

The north square further features many sculptures and small-scaled fountains playing all day long, multiple benches for short breaks, and two rows of tall ginkgo trees, whose leaves turn golden between October and November.
 

South Square of Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

In front of the entrance to the Da Ci’en Temple, in which the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda is located, is the South Square. When it comes to the pagoda, the eminent monk Xuanzang in Tang Dynasty (618-907) must be mentioned. To store precious Buddhist sutras he sought from India, he proposed to build a pagoda and supervised its construction. Today on the South Square, a bronze statue of him holding a string of beads and a monk staff stands, and it’s popular to take a photo with it and also the Pagoda behind.
 Walking southward from the South Square, you’ll get to the popular Grand Tang Dynasty Ever Bright City, also knowns as Great Tang All Day Mall. Once you step into this city at night, the crowd in traditional Chinese clothes, the ancient skill performances given by professional actors, and the sparkling lights seem to send you back to China’s flourishing Tang Dynasty.

Grand Tang Dynasty Ever Bright City

 Since the Da Ci’en Temple has undergone many times of damage and reconstruction, the current one is merely its west garden and a park has been built on its site to show people more about it and the pagoda. Different from the other bustling squares, this park is quite tranquil with vast grasslands and lush trees. What’s more, a stone Buddhist solemnly sits on a lotus flower seat in a pool, with its reflection on the water surface.

Sculptures in Tang Ci'en Temple Site Park

Hot Photo Location in the Park

 

Female Facial Makeup in Opera

Opposite the park stands the East Garden, which is also called the Grand Garden of Opera in Xi’an, Shaanxi. Around the pagoda, this spot with large lawns and towering trees may be the most recommended place for you to experience life of locals, because elderly people gather here to sing Shaanxi Opera and do exercise. Why not join them to spend a leisurely period of time? Besides, opera lovers will definitely be attracted by vivid facial sculptures in various styles of opera makeup.
 To the west of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda is an area with appealing scenes and lifelike stone sculptures. If you visit this garden in April, an intoxicating fragrance will attract you to come under a 220-year-old wisteria tree with light-purple flower clusters. The garden, with a nickname of Folk Custom Garden, further contains sculptures presenting locals’ unique life habits: The noodle is as wide as a belt, and the flatbread is as large as a pot cover. People are more accustomed to squatting rather than sitting, and houses they live in are half-built...
 

Map of Squares and Gardens

Since all these squares and gardens surrounds the Pagoda, after you visit the Pagoda, you can walk for about 10 minutes from the entrance of Da Ci’en Temple to the northwest, northeast, or south, to get to the place you prefer for further sightseeing.

 For various ways to get to Giant Wild Goose Pagoda:
1. By Metro: Take Metro Line 3 or Line 4 to Giant Wild Goose Pagoda Station, get out from Exit B or C, and the Pagoda is to the southward.
2. By Bus: Bus Stations around the Pagoda are: Giant Wild Goose Pagoda North Square, Giant Wild Goose Pagoda South Square, East Intersection of Yantaxi Road, Intersection of Furongxi Road and Furongdong Road, and Xi’an Art Museum.
3. By Taxi: It takes about 40 minutes from Xi’an Railway Station to the Pagoda, and about 1 hour from Xi’an North Railway Station to the Pagoda.
  Shaanxi History Museum
 Tang Paradise
 Qujiang Ocean Park
 Qujiang Pool Park
 Cool Cave / Hanyao
 Qin Ershi Mausoleum Heritage Park