The White Horse Pagoda (simplified Chinese: 白马寺), in Dunhuang, Gansu on Map of China, was built to commemorate Tianliu, the white horse of the Buddhist monk Kumārajīva, which carried Buddhist scriptures all the way from Kucha to Dunhuang in China c. 384 CE. Kumārajīva, a revered monk and translator, was born in the oasis city-state of Kucha, the son of a Kuchean princess and a Kashmiri Brahmin. The horse found passages through high mountains, across raging rivers, and water when needed.

In this pagoda along Silk Road travel, the dagoba has 9 stories, is 12 meters (39.4 feet) in height with an octagonal foundation. Structures resembling up-turned lotus petals surround its central body. On each of the angles of its hexagonal roof hang bells which chime in a breeze. The dagoba is of the lama dagoba style of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is evident from the characters engraved on two stones and on a block in the middle of the second story that the White Horse Dagoba was repaired many times by later generations.

The top story is a spire resembling a string of beads. The Pagoda on the whole is in the lamaist style of the Ming Dynasty. Believers repaired the structure in every dynasty, therefore the White Horse Pagoda keeps its original beauty and always take the lead among the tourist attractions in Dunhuang as is regarded as "scenery within the scenery" on China tourism.