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Dayan Pagoda & Music Fountain (Video)

Xian Dayan Pagoda is one of the top attractions in the ancient capital Xian. Featuring historical architectures, culture events and the largest music fountain in Asia, it is a place not to miss for anyone visiting Xian.

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The History

Originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Dayan Pagoda (also referred as Big Wild Goose Pagoda) is a well-preserved ancient architecture for Buddhists.

It was originally used to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang.

It is not just one of the famous Xi’an attractions, as it has been added to the World Heritage List on June 22, 2014.

The pagoda is open for tourists, ticket price around RMB60 (according to www.dianping.com).

The Story of Name "Dayan"

Why the pagoda was named “big wild goose”? (pronounced Dayan in Chinese).

According to the legend, there were two branches of Buddhists, one of which does not consider having meat as a bad thing.

One day, the monks saw the wild geese flying by and wished to eat them as they couldn’t find meat anywhere else. Then the leading goose fell to the ground.

All monks were shocked and believed that was a warning sign from Bodhisattva. Since then they built a pagoda for the wild goose and never thinking to have the meat again.

Hmm, that is a really interesting story, right? :)

The trees are designed for the evening events. No, this is not a Christmas tree :)

Dayan Pagoda Square Music Fountain

For most tourists, the square is famous for its big music fountain, which is said to be the largest music fountain in Asia. To make it better, it is free.

The music fountain show runs several times each day, so better check the time in advance and make a plan for your trip.

Open Time

According to information from www.baidu.com (Oct, 2014), the music fountain open time are:

Monday to Friday, 12:00 and 21:00, except Tuesday daytime.

Weekend and public holiday: 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 21:00.

If you go there at weekend evening, I highly recommend you to be there at least one hour earlier, otherwise, there will be no good spot left.

That was happening to me, I went there before 8pm and had a quick dinner at one restaurant nearby. Arrived the square before 9pm, but it was already crowded. If you stand behind the crowd and small as me, you almost have no chance to see anything.

So I couldn’t enjoy the show. Got few short clips though, using the mobile, not really good quality, but at least got something. I upload the clips to my Youtube channel, you may watch it here.