The Small Wild Pagoda is located inside the Jianfu Temple, about 1 kilometer south to Xian city proper. The Small Wild Goose Pagoda and its large neighbor-the Big Wild Goose Pagoda are two important Buddhism sites dating back to the Tang Dynasty, over 1,000 years old.  
  The two pagodas had been a symbol of Chang’an city-today’s Xian. It was called Chang’an when it served as the capital of the Tang Dynasty.

The Jianfu Temple was first built in 684 AD in honor of the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty-Gaozong in the centenary upon his death. The famous pilgrim Yijing, a great Buddhism translator at that time once lived here to translate Buddhism scripts he brought back from Indian.    

The Pagoda was erected in the period 707 to 709. It was so named for the smaller body to the Big Pagoda. The building was originally a multi-eave and square brick structure, with 15 storeys, 45 meters high. A big earthquake in 1555 damaged and reduced it to the present’s 13 storeys. A crack ran from the top to the base and the upper two tiers toppled off. Though the crack was later revamped, the two top storeys were not replaced during the renovation. The 13 storeys structure later suffered countless earthquake but it still well maintained. Inside the pagoda, there is a staircase to take visitors to the top.