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It is located about 40 miles southwest of Xian, the largest of sixteen pyramids located in the area designated as a Shensi, or a “no-go area”, a forbidden zone by the Communist authorities.
These restrictions make it extremely difficult for Westerners to visit the pyramid and take photograph of it. Nevertheless, some people from West have actually managed to find a way to view this impressive structure.
It is unknown when exactly the Great Pyramid of China was raised. According to some Chinese archaeologists the pyramid was built during the Hsia Dynasty from 2205 to 1767 B.C.
One of the earliest photos ever of the White Pyramid
One of the earliest photos ever of the White Pyramid
Ancient records preserved in an old monastery near the Mongolian border describe the Xian pyramid.
The structure was said to measure 1,000 feet in height which made it the highest pyramid in the world (the Great Pyramid of Egypt is 450 feet in height).
According to the monastic documents the pyramid was already extremely old when the records were made.
In the valleys surrounding the Xian pyramid were dozens of other pyramids, some rising to an elevation almost as great.
Surviving traces of original pigments show that the Xian pyramid was painted with different colours on each on its four flanks.
The east side was bluish grey, with white facing the west, black on the north, and red on the south. It should be noted that other ancient monuments such as the Maya, Aztecs, and many Indian tribes of North America associated the four cardinal directions with different colours.
Based on what is known, the first Westerners to see the pyramid were two Australian traders. Later, in 1912, Fred Meyer Schroeder, an American trader hired a monk as a guide, who told him about the monastery and that it contained important information about the pyramid.
Chinese pyramid
When Schroeder inspected the pyramid he noticed there was no entrance.
“We rode around it, looking for stairways or doors, but saw none,” Schroder said later. Schroeder also observed that the entire structure was encased in common fieldstone, each block three foot square.
The next person from the West who saw the Great Pyramid of China was James Gaussman, an American pilot. During WWII, Gaussman flew a C-47 transport plane with supplies from a U.S. base in India. When he was on his way back to Assam, Gaussman suddenly experienced engine problems due to icing conditions.
Gaussman dropped the plane to lower altitude in search of warmer temperatures, hoping to unfreeze the fuel lines. Gaussman was afraid he was going to crash in an entirely unexplored area of the Himalayan borders of Tibet, India and China. Even if he survived a crash there, no-one would ever find him.
While flying low over the region, he suddenly noticed a broad, flat valley before him. There was the Xian pyramid which seemed to be larger than the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Gaussman’s engines were now functioning properly and he circled the ancient structure before returning back to his base.
“I flew around a mountain and then we came to a valley. Directly below was a gigantic white pyramid. It looked as if it were from a fairy tale. The pyramid was draped in shimmering white. It could have been metal, or some other form of stone. It was white on all sides. What was most curious about it was its capstone, a large piece of precious gem-like material. I was deeply moved by the colossal size of the thing,” Gaussman said.
Two years later, Sheahan another American pilot who had heard of Gaussman’s sighting successfully located the Xian pyramid. He took some photographs which were published in the March 28, 1947 issue of the New York Times.
In his intelligence report, Sheahan wrote about the pyramid:
“There’s nothing around it, just a big pyramid sitting out in the wilderness. I figure it was extremely old. Who built it? Why was it built? What’s on the inside?”
Chinese archaeologists denied the existence of the Xian pyramid despite Sheahan’s photographs.
In 1962, Captain Bruce Cathie of Auckland, New Zealand, an airline pilot and today a recognized UFO researcher read Schroeder’s diaries.
Cathie contacted the Chinese embassy in Wellington and asked about the Xian pyramid. To his surprise, he was told that there were no such things as pyramids in China. Later, the Chinese authorities changed their mind and acknowledged the existence of these ancient structures. However, the Chinese pointed out they should not be characterized as pyramids, but rather trapezoidal burial tombs.
When the German researcher and explorer Hartwig Hausdorf heard of the pyramid fifty years later he decided to travel to China, with the hope he could learn more about this mysterious ancient structure and its unknown builders.
Determined to find the truth behind the White Pyramid, Hausdorf journeyed deep into China three times. In 1994, Hausdorf entered one of China’s “forbidden zones” and got to Xian almost entirely by chance. With help of Mr. Chen Jianli, a friend of his, Hausdorf managed to get permission from the ministry in Beijing to enter the forbidden zone near Xian on three occasions, in March and October 1994, and in summer 1997.
Hausdorf quickly noticed how reluctant the Chinese were to discuss their pyramids. After looking at Gaussman’s photos, Chinese archaeologists unwillingly confirmed their existence by referring to them as “just a few pyramidal structures near Xian.”
When Hausdorf and his friend Peter Krassa reached the township of Xianyang, about 40 miles west of Xian they saw at least 15 pyramids in the area. The two researchers were surprised to see small trees planted on the sides of the pyramids.
“I had been told that, over the past four or five years, the Chinese had been planting fast growing conifers, a kind of Cypress tree on the slopes of these pyramids. I wondered briefly what they were trying to hide by making these extraordinary artefacts blend so completely with their surroundings.
