So, why was Big Wild Goose Pagoda chosen? There's a reason Xi Jingping choose this over many other cultural stopovers PM Modi could have made on this first day in the Xi'ian province which is the Chinese President's hometown.


The pagoda draws its importance from Xuanzang  or Hieun Tsang as we were told in history books, the Buddhist scholar, monk, traveller, who spent years in India and described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang dynasty.


Xuanzang planned to have a huge stone pagoda built to house the Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures he had brought back from India, but the plan fell through because it was difficult to find the needed stone and the cost was prohibitive.


He decided instead to build a mud pagoda reinforced with bricks, but the mud pagoda was not strong and the construction was not done properly. The pagoda collapsed not long after it was built. It was rebuilt between 701 and 704 on the order of Empress Wu Ze Tian. And that is what you see.


The monument, which currently stands at a height of 64 metres, was built in recognition of monk Hiuen Tsang's 17-year-long journey to India and his efforts to popularise Buddhism in China.


Hiuen Tsang undertook the journey to India through the ancient Silk Road and returned home after the 17-year sojourn with precious Buddhist scriptures.


One of the Pagoda's many functions was to hold sutra and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India by Hiuen Tsang.


Pic: An exchange of special gifts at the pagoda. PM Modi gifts a Bodhi sapling to the temple, while the Abbot of the monastery gifts a figurine of Xuanzang