The smaller and quieter twin of the East Pagoda, the West Pagoda (Xisi Ta) stands a few hundred metres away in an alley just off Dongsi Pagoda Street. Like its larger counterpart it dates in origin to the Tang dynasty and the long-gone Hui Guang Temple, and has been rebuilt and patched several times since.
The pagoda is now surrounded by a small temple courtyard with a tea garden, which is the real reason to come — a quiet pocket of old Kunming in the middle of an otherwise modern shopping district. Local elderly men play mahjong and Chinese chess in the courtyard most afternoons.