In Search of the Legendary 1,000-Foot White Pyramid of Xi'an

Mixed in with the reality of impressive tombs in China, is a legend of an enormous 1,000-foot white, jewel-capped pyramid that would outshine even the Great Pyramid of Giza. Could it be real?

Qin Ling Mountains in China, where the White Pyramid of Xi'an is said to be. A model of a mausoleum pyramid at the Han Yang Ling Museum. Some say people have mistaken the Maoling mausoleum pyramid for the white pyramid of legend, but others disagree saying the descriptions don't match. Wikimedia Commons

Scattered across an isolated, flat plain in Shaanxi Province, near the ancient capital of Xi‘an, lie dozens of spectacular pyramid mounds that are little known outside China. Mixed in with the reality of these impressive tombs, is a legend of an enormous 1,000-foot white, jewel-capped pyramid that would outshine even the Great Pyramid of Giza. While some researchers believe that aerial sightings of the “White Pyramid of Xi’an” actually refer to the Maoling pyramid, tomb of Emperor Wu of Han, others maintain that the legendary pyramid is yet to be found.

The Maoling pyramid is about 155 feet high, falling far short of the grand structure of the legendary white pyramid.

First Sighting—Fred Meyer Schroder, 1912

Reported sightings of an enormous white pyramid in China date back more than a century to the diary entries of American travel agent and trader Fred Meyer Schroder, who spotted a set of pyramids in the distance while walking with a Buddhist monk guide in Shaanxi Province in 1912. He reported seeing one giant pyramid, along with smaller pyramids surrounding it.  “It was even more uncanny than if we had found it in the wilderness,” he wrote. “Those [pyramids] were to some extent exposed to the eyes of the world—but still totally unknown in the Western world.”