Jianfu Temple
notable Buddhist temple in Xi'an, China

Jianfu Temple (simplified Chinese: 荐福寺; traditional Chinese: 薦福寺; pinyin: Jiànfú Sì) is a Chinese Buddhist temple located at West Youyi Rd. outside the south gate of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China. It hosts the famous Small Wild Goose Pagoda.
History
Jianfu Temple was originally the residence of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang dynasty before he became the emperor. It was converted to a temple on the 20th day of the 3rd lunar month in AD 684 (100 days after the death of Emperor Gaozong) in order to dedicate postmortem fortune to the deceased emperor. Thus it was named as "Xianfu Temple" (献福寺). In AD 690 during Wu Zetian's reign, it was renamed Jianfu Temple, and also bestowed an inscribed board handwritten by the emperor. The famous Small Wild Goose Pagoda was built in the Jinglong era (707-710) of the Tang dynasty. Initially, the pagoda courtyard resided outside the temple gate, rather than inside the temple, but it was still a part of Jianfu Temple. Under the wing of the Tang Empire, Jianfu Temple, together with Daci'en Temple, became prosperous.
“Jianfu Temple” enters the record as notable Buddhist temple in Xi'an, China. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jianfu, Temple and notable can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Jianfu Temple” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Jianfu, Temple and notable provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q836192. Authority coordinates are 34.240, 108.937. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Jianfu Temple” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.