Hey everyone, welcome to World Heritage Journey.
For today's video, we're checking out the Silk Road, in Xi'an, China.
Now this World Heritage Site covers the ancient Silk Road, a trading network that stretched
in ancient times from Europe, right the way to China.
Unfortunately we're not going to get to the areas of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan that this
World Heritage site covers, but what we are going to see is the end of the route here
in Xi'an.
Let's go!
The Silk Road is one of the most famous road networks in history, and it covered thousands
of miles from Europe, across central Asia and India before eventually terminating in
the then-capital of China, Chang'an.
Known these days as Xi'an, it's one of the best places to experience the magic of this
ancient and alluring route, without actually making the camel-back trek across Kazakhstan
and Kyrgyzstan yourself.
In the centre of Xi'an you'll find the two main components of the World Heritage site
in the city: the Large Wild Goose Pagoda, and its smaller sibling, the Small Wild Goose
Pagoda.
This beautiful pair of buildings go right to the heart of what this Site is all about.
As the name suggests, the Silk Road was primarily about the trading of goods.
Silk, porcelain, tea, and of course spices flowed west from China, while gold, silver
and other precious metals flowed the other way.
But even more important was the trade in ideas: Chinese inventions like paper and gunpowder
went west, while religions like Islam and most importantly Buddhism went east.
And this is where the Wild Goose Pagodas come in.
The Large Wild Goose Pagoda was built to house relics and other Buddhist materials brought
back from India by the famous travelling monk, Xuanzang.
He spent 17 years of his life on a pilgrimage to India in the 7th century AD, and on his
return to China, he was greeted as a national hero.
He translated many important Buddhist works into Chinese, and probably did more than anyone
else to spread Buddhism into China.
Nearby, you'll also find the Small Wild Goose Pagoda.
This was built in the early 8th century in a similar style to the nearby Large pagoda,
and was also an important Buddhist landmark.
What I just love about these buildings is how you can clearly see the fusion of Chinese
style with Buddhist designs.
The tall slender tower is very obviously inspired by temples like Mahabodhi in India, but done
in a traditional Chinese way.
Very beautiful, and very impressive.
The tower was originally a few floors higher than it is now, but it's been slightly reduced
by earthquakes over the centuries.