And here we are in Xi'an. We are met by a new guide - Nastya, a funny, cheerful girl in a short pleated skirt.
Xi'an is another giant city, and it seems that we are already beginning to get used to the Chinese scale and calmly look at the blocks of skyscrapers, high-rise interchanges, wide avenues stretching into the distance.
The city has 36 universities per 9 million inhabitants. There are many scientific institutes and high-tech industries, in particular, of the space profile. The "science-orientedness" of the city is felt immediately - on the streets a large number of young people with intelligent, intelligent faces.
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Xi'an (formerly Chang'an) has a long and glorious history of 3,100 years. Of these, more than a thousand years, during 13 imperial dynasties, it was the capital of the country. Core ancient city it is surrounded by a well-preserved fortress wall of six centuries ago, which is considered the largest city wall in the world. Indeed, it is an impressive gray brick structure with massive towers and entrance gates.
The original orthogonal layout has been preserved behind the walls. In the center is the heavy bulky Bell Tower. As usual, the Drum Tower is attached to it - it stands at the edge of the square, and behind it is the Muslim quarter with a mosque of the 8th century. Since the Great Silk Road began just from Xi'an, the city was flooded with merchants from different countries, and there were so many traders from Arab countries that a separate Muslim quarter with a mosque stood out in the center of the city.
The main attractions outside the city walls are two Buddhist complexes, the Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas (in some sources - the Wild Goose and, accordingly, different versions of the name) and the Shaanxi Province History Museum. On the outskirts of the city there is the Banpo Museum - a Neolithic site of ancient people. The most famous local attraction is Terracotta Army Emperor Qin Shihuang - located 40 km from the city.
Big Wild Goose Pagoda
We first headed towards the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the main Buddhist complex in Xi'an. In addition to the pagoda itself, the temple of Kindness and Grace (or Filial Reverence) and a park are located on the spacious territory, surrounded by a fence.
The temple was founded in the 7th century by Prince Li Zhi in memory of his deceased mother. Around the same time (in 645) the monk Xuan Zang returned from India, who studied Sanskrit and learned the basics of Buddhism there. In general, he was a person with a wide range of interests. This learned monk brought with him a huge number of scrolls with Buddhist canons. And in this pagoda, it was decided to organize the storage of these scrolls, their translation and study. For 19 years, Xuan Zang and his students translated the sacred sutras, wrote books on geography and literary works here. And he gave the name to the pagoda - it reminded him of the Wild Goose pagoda in India.
In the 16th century, the temple and tower were badly damaged by an earthquake and were rebuilt. And in this form they have survived to this day.
The high seven-story pagoda is visible from afar and is actually the second center of the city. On the one hand, it is approached by the so-called. “Sleepless Street” is a wide promenade with fountains and sculptural groups; on the other hand, there is a huge square, on which every night at 20-30 a light and musical fountain show is arranged.
Around the pagoda is a typical Chinese monastery complex, i.e. a series of low pavilions and courtyards with curved roofs.
On the walls of the pavilions, the entire life and deeds of Xuan Zang are depicted in detail: sometimes in the form of drawings on the walls, sometimes in the form of bas-reliefs.
And on the walls of the main temple, carved in stone, is the story of Prince Siddhartha, who became Buddha.
The monastery buildings are surrounded by a park, nice, adjusted in Chinese: among the greenery - stones, paths, steles, stone tables, obelisks and something like samovars on a high leg. Cages with songbirds are hung on the trees so that the birds do not fly away, but sang where necessary.
In the lobby of the restaurant, where we were brought for dinner, there was an imperial chariot with terracotta warriors. The attributes of the main Xi'an hit are found here at every step.
The traditional food of Shaanxi province is noodles. Nastya said that she usually eats a bowl of noodles for dinner, and that is enough. “Only very peppery, otherwise it’s not tasty for me,” she added. Indeed, at dinner, noodles were present in the most different types: from familiar to very broadband.
I must say that in Chinese cities there are very few overweight people. Until old age, the Chinese manage to maintain youthful harmony and not blur over the years. They generally have a very calm attitude towards food and healthy taste settings. There is, however, a bias towards spicy food, but this is typical for the cuisine of all countries with hot climates. But the Chinese do not have the habit of eating tea with sweets - tea is tasty for them by itself. Guide Lilya told us that of all medical specialties, dentistry is the least popular, since dentists have little work and they earn worse than other specialists. To our compliments (“how slender you are all”), she replied that, on the contrary, the Chinese love to eat, especially in the villages, and there are just overweight people there. No wonder the pig is considered in China a symbol of a happy life - it eats all the time and does nothing. It is customary to give pig figurines as a wish for a prosperous life.
Cooking is the prerogative of men. "And in general," said our girls, Nastya and Lilya, "we have matriarchy." Due to the “one family, one child” policy and the fact that ultrasound made it possible to determine the sex of a child before birth, there was a large bias towards men among Chinese youth (70% of men and 30% of women). "Therefore, girls can choose from a huge number of men, - said Nastya, - with a car, apartment and other advantages." And Lilya added: “When my husband leaves on a business trip, he worries: you will die of hunger without me! In his absence, you have to eat Doshirak. "
Both of our escorts are from villages. Nastya said that they still have clay floors and practically subsistence farming in their country house. Such a rapid transition within literally two to three decades - from clay floors to skyscrapers filled with technical innovations - is a leap from the past to the future.
Nevertheless, a huge mass of people is being artificially contained in the villages - they are being held back so that they do not flood the cities. However, in order to be able to move from village to city, it is enough to graduate from college, or serve in the army, or get married. In the villages, a large number of relatives remain for each city dweller, and before major holidays most of the urban population leaves for their small homeland, since it is customary to celebrate holidays among relatives. They say that before the holidays for three days had to stand for a ticket. Now tickets are taken over the Internet.
In the villages, they allow themselves to break the law "one family - one child". For an "unauthorized", over-limit child is supposed to pay a fine, otherwise he remains virtually without documents, unaccounted for and powerless. Lilya said that she turned out to be such an over-limit child, so a fine was imposed on the family: they took the fattened pig, cut down a large tree in the yard and - the saddest thing - requisitioned the TV. All childhood elder sister reproached Lilya: why did I have to give birth to you, because of you they took away the TV and the pig from us. "Are you in touch now?" I asked. - “Now we are very friendly,” - answered Lilya.
I asked how they spend their vacation. Nastya said that usually the inhabitants of Xi'an go to the ridge. What a ridge, I have not been able to achieve. I think so, they go to Huangshan - one of five sacred mountains located just outside Xi'an.
Lilya added that the Chinese do not like to swim and relax by the water. They even have a saying: the better a person swims, the more chances he has of drowning.
Evening Xi'an
After dinner, we went on a night tour of Xi'an, which began with the Wall of Love Park. Five years ago there was a village on this place, now - modern park: with a lake, waterfalls, illuminated arches, stones, pavilions and a long red wall decorated with bas-reliefs of all kinds of love stories. There is even Onegin with Tatiana. Modern sculpture in the park has the same love theme. The bridge over water surface with illuminated arches: arches and their reflections on the water surface merged into a full circle.
Then we moved to a square with tall columns and a colossal monument on a heroic theme. Each column has its own luminous pattern, which was constantly changing: now one pattern, then another, then the whole picture - in general, the eyes run up.
The "Sleepless" street began from the square. Sleepless street is about three kilometers of kitsch space with glowing trees, fountains, sculptural groups illustrating important historical episodes. A large part of the street is occupied by a sculptural composition dedicated to Chinese writers from antiquity. There are a lot of writers, and we haven't even heard of any of them.
Let's go writers
Finally we reached the Big Wild Geese Pagoda, on the other side of which a light and music show of fountains was just going on - and even nearing completion. We got to the last song: "The Farewell of a Slav."
Then we moved under the fortress wall (from the singing fountain to the wall - about 4 km). And there the people had fun: someone danced, someone closed in a circle, sang, someone performed complex body movements under the guidance of an instructor. Numerous small groups were dispersed throughout the area in front of the wall.
The last point of the evening excursion was the Muslim Quarter, which was already located inside the fortress walls. In the center of the block there is a pedestrian street (I wanted to write "narrow", but it is narrow only by Chinese standards, in fact it is quite wide), with numerous shops with spices, nuts and dried fruits. Here, too, idle people walked. I didn’t feel such a strongly Muslim spirit here, rather, a smell, a smack. The pedestrian street rests directly on the Drum Tower. Consider it the very center of the city.
Very convenient service for travelers- everything in one place: search for tickets (plane, train, bus), insurance, selection and booking of hotels, car rental, visa processing.
The entrance to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was on the opposite side of the fountains, so we walked along the wall. Along the path along the walls, there are many metal monuments depicting various forms of ancient Chinese society.
1. Boys beg a noble person about something
2. Pagoda from behind the fence 
3. What are they doing - I don't understand :) 
4. Sincere conversation 
5. Wrestlers 
6. Columns with inscriptions 
7. Musicians 
8. Scheme of the monastery 
The pagoda is on the territory Monastery of Great Maternal Mercy, built in 648 as a symbol of Emperor Gao-tsong's respect for his early deceased mother in gratitude for her kindness. After the fall of the Tang dynasty, most of the monastery's buildings were destroyed, and what can be seen today was built during the Qing dynasty, but stylized as the Ming dynasty. This is how confusing it is :).
The entrance to the territory is 25 RMB, to climb the pagoda - plus some more (we did not climb).
9. Bell tower 
10. Brazier 
The famous sonah Xuanzang (more about him will be in the next part) asked to build a large pagoda in the center of the monastery to store Buddhist texts that he brought there.
The pagoda is called Big Wild Goose Pagoda(Dàyàn Tǎ, dayanta), and so unusual name appeared according to legend due to the fact that once a wedge of white geese flew over the monastery, suddenly one bird separated from the group, fell to the ground and died. The monks believed that the goose was an incarnation of the Buddha, and buried him under the pagoda.
The pagoda was built under the influence of Indian architecture in 652 and originally consisted of five tiers, on which were placed Buddhist statues and relics collected during his travels by Xuanzan. In 704, Empress Wu ordered to build on the pagoda with five more tiers. The three upper tiers were badly damaged during the medieval wars and had to be demolished. Currently, the pagoda is seven-tiered, rises to a height of 64 meters.
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12. Pavilions on site 
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14. Buddha 
15. Pillars and slabs that look more like gravestones 
On the right side of the pagoda, a very unusual mini-zoo was discovered. There are bird cages along the wall.
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If you look closely, you can see that there are very small cells on the cells. Crickets live there.
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Some of the cages are hanging from trees. In this one, for example, an oriole sits.
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But the most unusual thing was waiting for us a little further. Looking up, we saw the cages in the tree, in which the cats were sitting! It is not known why they were put there, but they sat quietly, humbly, did not even meow.
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23. Chickens walked on the ground with a rooster at the head 
24. The same mother of the emperor? 
25. A few more statues of Buddha and Hotei 
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This elderly monk, when he saw that I was taking it off, began waving his hands and shouting something, but I managed to take a couple of frames :)
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To be continued...
The Great Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayantha) is one of the most famous buildings Xi'an. Dayanta for a long time was one of the most tall buildings China. Today, the pagoda also continues to be one of the main viewing platforms cities.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 652 in the southern part of Xi'an on the grounds of the Monastery of Mercy and Compassion. This city at that time had a different name - Chang'an. In addition, it was the capital of the powerful Tang Empire.
It is said that the decision to build Dayant was made by Emperor Gaozong, who thus decided to perpetuate the memory of his mother.
It is worth noting that this pagoda gained fame, undoubtedly, thanks to the famous Chinese monk Xiongzhuang. It was he who brought Buddhist relics from India to Xi'an, and he also became the first abbot of the local monastery.
Dayant is a square, and according to Feng Shui, a square is an ideal shape for rooms.
For the Tang era, such a layout is especially characteristic. In addition, the tiers-floors of the tower are also surprisingly harmonious.
During its existence, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was both lower and higher than the current 64 meters. Initially, in 652, it was built in five tiers. In 704, by order of the Empress, the tower was completed up to ten tiers. Unfortunately, an even number of tiers is considered unlucky for buildings. That is why the three upper tiers were destroyed in the Middle Ages. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda has remained seven-tiered to this day.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is architecturally distinctive. The temple combines traditional and Indian Tang styles. A distinctive feature of the pagoda is the lack of sophistication in design and extreme simplicity.
There are many things inside the pagoda that are of great cultural and historical interest. The walls of the temple are decorated with ornaments of the Tang era, and the works of Emperor Gaozong are engraved on the steles. In addition, Buddhist relics are kept in the pagoda. The most important relic is the legendary relics of Buddha on the fourth tier. By the way, among the numerous exhibits you can find the texts of the works of the most famous poets of the Tang dynasty. According to the legend, they came to the monastery and composed poems with a glass of wine.
There is also a legend about the name of the pagoda. Once a flock of wild geese flew over the monastery, but one of the birds suddenly fell like a stone on the promised land. For some reason, the monks decided that the goose is the embodiment of the Buddha. That is why they buried him under the pagoda.
You should definitely visit these ancient sites. The tour will provide you with an excellent opportunity to climb the wooden stairs to the very top of this attraction. From here you will have a magnificent panorama of old City... After this tour, you can head to the large nearby park, which houses the Xuanzang Monument, as well as other statues dedicated to famous Chinese poets.
Built in the Tang era, large wild goose pagoda is one of the most ancient. Its beauty lies not in the carvings or bright enamel, but in the simplicity of proportions and mathematical precision. The pagoda has an ideal feng shui shape for rooms in the form of a square, which was very character for the Tang era itself.
The tiers have amazing harmony and attractiveness, decreasing evenly towards the top, the windows of the tiers also proportionally decrease, which allows the sixty-four-meter tower, as if going into the sky, higher and higher. The very name of the pagoda comes from the ancient legend associated with Buddha, who during his stay in these places managed to overcome the desire to feast on the meat of beautiful wild geese. It is worth noting that during its entire life the height of the tower was even less than sixty-four meters. In 652, it was built with only five tiers, and by order of the empress in 704, five more tiers were added to the pagoda.
Thus, its height began to reach ten tiers, however, according to the same Feng Shui, an even number of tiers is not happy, perhaps during the medieval wars this influenced the fact that the whole three upper tiers were destroyed. So it has remained in our days as a seven-tiered structure. Not far from the building is located temple of maternal love, which was built in 589, and later rebuilt in 647.
The environment for Dayant is Buddhist monastery and large park, in which he honorably took his place Xuanzang monument, besides this monument, there are others: artists, thinkers, outstanding poets and scientists of China. Dayant is decoration of Xi'an city, however, at the time of construction, the city had a different name - Chang'an, and was the capital for almost the entire millennium of our time, and now it is a large trade and cultural center... In those days in China, this building was one of the most significant and towered over the entire old capital.
A magnificent view of the city and Xi'an Square opens from the upper tier of the pagoda, and you can get there by a wooden staircase installed on the tower. Many historians and archaeologists find tangles with Indian motives in the architecture of the tower. Perhaps they are right, since during the Tang times it was a repository of relics and ritual figurines that were brought by the famous monk and philosopher Xuanzan during his
P a walk at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and at the Qien Temple.
The pagoda is old, especially by our standards - 652 AD (we simply do not have such old buildings), I will write about it in detail below. It is located 4 kilometers from the center of Xian and is one of the main landmarks of the city. Around is a park with endless shopping and restaurant pavilions.
It's not so easy to get to the pagoda))) everything is rummaged - a construction site. I had to walk along the fence until a bridge appeared across the road.
The road to the Pagoda lies through the pavilions ... and everything is like everywhere else in China on a grand scale. The pavilions are large, the roads are long ...
The construction does not end. Probably there will be underground parking. Or a store with late floors.
All shops and pavilions here are in the Chinese style.
There are many different gates of immeasurable size,
The Pagoda appeared.
There is a fairly spacious place and a bunch of fountains. In the evening, "Singing Fountains" show.
Here is the Wild Goose Pagoda.
There are several alternative versions of why the pagoda was named so originally. On the first - a flock of large wild geese flew past this place and one of them fell from the sky and died. The monks wanted to eat him, but then they decided that suddenly the dead goose was Buddha himself. And he checks them. They buried the bird with honors, and on the spot they erected a pagoda as a monument to human stupidity, which they called the Great Wild Goose Pagoda.
And the second version connects him with Buddha, who, being in these places, felt the desire to feast on the meat of wild geese, but managed to overcome it. And in honor of such a rare event for him, a Pagoda was erected here. He was strong ... I could not cope with the temptation ...
According to the third version, Xuan Zang got lost in the desert and was dying of thirst, but a flock of wild geese showed him the way to the oasis, which flew around him 3 times in a circle and flew to the source. Returning to China, he built a pagoda named after his saviors.
The park is decorated with monuments of prominent Chinese poets, thinkers, artists, scientists.
It is pleasant to relax here and admire the surrounding ancient architecture... There are also many new sculptures from which tourists are happy to vandal.
There was a whole queue to be photographed for this monk. And what they didn’t do with his sword and fingers ... it’s even a shame to tell. And they sucked and licked and climbed on top ...)))
This is for happiness, which is fleeting, like drying water ...
The video is being played on the ceiling. There are relics from the Big Goose Pagoda and other things ...
The pagoda is located on Yant Liu Street. The entrance to the territory is paid. It is quite expensive - about 300 rubles. And to climb the pagoda for another 20 yuan, i.e. RUB 200
The pagoda was built in 652 AD, under the leadership of the first abbot of the temple, Xuan Zhang. The emperor who built the Great Pagoda was not Chinese himself. He came from the steppe people of Toba, who were assimilated by the Chinese. It was the origin of the Tang emperors that gave China a powerful impetus to development, because now they had excellent relations with the steppe peoples.
The Tang era is the age of the peak of power of the emperors of China, when their decrees were carried out in space from Of the yellow sea to the Caspian Sea. The zone of their cultural, economic and political influence included the territory of modern Kazakhstan in the west, Thailand and Vietnam in the south, and Primorsky Krai and Korea in the north.
Nearby there is also the Small Wild Goose Pagoda (Xiaoyant), which is lower and is located two kilometers south of South gate, away from the wide Juisilu street.
The large pagoda was built with bricks, each of which was individually shaped before laying to ensure a perfect fit. Each next tier of the pagoda is smaller than the previous one, and each floor is marked with several rows of prism-shaped bricks.
The Wild Goose Pagoda was built as a repository of texts and artifacts brought back by the traveler Xuan Zhang. Xuan Zhang, in addition to India, visited 100 countries and studied with the best masters of Buddhism. He spent 17 years in India. His translations of Buddhist texts into Chinese amounted to 1335 volumes. In addition to the translated texts, he managed to collect and transport many Buddhist treatises (a bunch of Buddha statues, more than 600 sacred texts (sutras) and several stale relics). Why stale relics? Because in my understanding, if the relic is given away themselves, it was not a relic)) Some historians believe that it was he who discovered the Kitai-Buddhist doctrine.
Ancient Sanskrit manuscript
The temple houses two rare steles signed by the emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The steles were placed here over 1200 years ago.
The temple complex that houses the large Wild Goose Pagoda includes beautiful gardens and marvelous architectural buildings. Although many of them were repeatedly destroyed, they were later rebuilt, giving them initial appearance... The buildings are made of gray bricks with glazed roofs.
The temple complex is filled with ancient artifacts. Hidden from prying eyes, the forest of stupas (gravestones) is the place where prominent monks are buried.
There is also a Buddha "Di zang wang pusa" with a rod in front of a naked child, which enjoys special worship among women))) but I did not find her, I read about her later)))
You can climb the pagoda, but we did not get there, everything was already closed.
Earlier in the monastery "Da xing shan sy", lived 5 thousand monks who professed five schools of Buddhism. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is convenient for tourists. it is better to go to her in the evening, tk. when it gets dark there is a fountain show.
The tower originally consisted of five tiers. In 704, Empress Wu ordered to build on the pagoda with five more tiers.
But the three upper tiers were badly damaged during the medieval wars and earthquakes of the 16th century and had to be demolished. Currently, the seven-tiered pagoda, although not the tallest in its history, still rises to a height of 64 meters.
