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XIAN
Xi'an, as the provincial capital, was called Chang'an
in ancient times and was one of the most important cradles
of Chinese civilization. The famous "Silk Road"
that linked China with central Asia and the Roman Empire
started in Xi'an. The city was also served as the first
capital of a unified China and capital of 11 dynasties
periodically from the 11th century BC to the early 10th
century AD. |
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Back in the Neolithic
Age, about 6,000 years ago, a matriarchal clan was formed at
Banpo village near the present city of Xian. Thousands of years
later, in 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of Qin dynasty,
unified China and set about expanding the settlement in Xianyang
about 15 miles northwest of the city. In 583 AD, the Sui emperor
Wen Di, established his capital southeast of Changan. The area
flourished and developed so quickly later under the Tang Dynasty
that in time it became the most prominent city in Asia, with
a population of about a million people living in a vast, well-planned
area protected by large walls with ramparts.
For over a millennium from the Second Century BC, China's silk
was transported from Xi'an to the central Asian and European
countries. With a population of over 6 million at present, Xian
still holds the important position of world famed historical
site and one of the most popular tourist cities in China.
Terra Cotta Warriors & Horses
| In March 1974,
villagers of the Xiyang Village, while digging wells,
found by chance the Terra Cotta Figures near Emperor Qinshihuang's
Tomb made up of Soldiers and Horses that were buried in
the Yanzhai Village in Lintong County. The archeologists
later named them respectively No.1 Delve Pit, No.2 Delve
Pit and No.3 Delve Pit according to the time when they
were founded. The total acreage of delves is 22,780 square
meters. It was found in the first pit with 210 tomb figures
in military suits, arrayed as in the actual combat formation,
and the second one with more than 100 pottery tomb figures
and some 500 horses together with carriages were unearthed,
while in the third one, only 4 horses and 1 carriage and
568 pottery tomb figures were excavated. Finely made and
nicely sculpted, Qinshihuang's tomb figures are high and
big in life size with an estimated number of 6000. The
Museum of the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses was later
built right on top of the excavation site which has now
become one of the 10 most famous tourist attractions in
China, and has been announced as the world cultural heritage
by UNESCO. |
The
bronze carriage and horse
|
The bronze carriages and horses were made exactly according
to the original images. The only difference is that their
dimensions are only about one half of the real ones. The
bronze carriage and horses are composed of 3400 parts.
The carriage is 3.17 meter long, 1.06 meter high, and
the horse is 67 centimeters high, 1.2 meters long, and
the total weight of the carriage and the horse are 1243
kilograms. Its main body is made of bronze, while much
gold and silver are used for the decorations on the carriage
and the horse, which makes a total weight of 7 kilograms.
As the biggest archeological bronze work ever found in
the world in such early dynasty, the carriage and horses
are really the best treasures of fine art among all others. |
Shaanxi
Provincial Museum
The Shaanxi Historical Museum, a large-scale modern museum
about 1 kilometer northwest of the Big Wild Goose  Pagoda,
was open in June 1991, covering almost 50,000 square meters
for indoor exhibition. The museum is of primitive simplicity
and elegance with a unique designing style. With 113,
000 unearthed cultural relics on display, the museum is
divided into 7 parts for exhibition such as the prehistoric
age, the Zhou Dynasty, the Qin, Han, Wei, Sui and Tang
Dynasties, the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and
showed the history of Shaanxi Province from the primitive
age up to 1840. |
City
Wall
Xi'an boasts the only city wall to remain intact to this
day in China. Built during the early Ming dynasty on the
basis of the  Tang
imperial city of Chang'an, and laid out with a rectangular
plan of 13.7 km in circumference, the wall stands 12 meters
high, 14 meters wide at the top and 18 meters wide for
the basement. A total of 5,894 crenels are built along
the outer edge of the wall, with each of its four corners
topped by a turret, and a main gate is built in each side
of the wall. The City Wall had been restored on large
scale in recent year, and the top of the wall had been
converted into a promenade, so that visitors can take
a stroll while glimpsing on the scenery of Xian and musing
upon the history of this ancient city. |
Big
Wild Goose Pagoda
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, about 64 meters high with 7
stories and situated in the Da Ci'en Temple of 4 km south
of the  city
center, is one of the most famous Buddhist pagodas in
China. Originally built in 589 A.D. in the Sui dynasty,
and then rebuilt in 652 AD and 704 A.D. during the Tang
dynasty by order of the emperor, the Pagoda was used to
store and translate the Buddhist sutra taken from India
by the legendary monk Rabbi Xuanzang, who was then considered
as the first one introducing Buddhism into China.
Pictures of the Heavenly King and Buddha are on the doorframe
horizontal bars on four sides of the pagoda's base. These
stone sculptures showed the best workmanship in history.
Inside the temple where the pagoda is situated, there
are two small buildings: the one on the east side houses
a bell, and a drum on the west side. Inside the Great
Hall of the Buddha, there are three incarnations of Sakyamuni.
The one in the middle is called Dharmakaya, the west side
one is called Bao Shen Buddha, and the one opposite is
called Ying Shen Buddha.
In the Tang dynasty, every successful candidate who had
passed the imperial examinations would have to climb up
the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and wrote poems and inscriptions
there for the hope to be higher ranked in their administrative
positions in the future. Today, it has been the most famous
scenic spot in Xian for all the tourists. |
Bell
Tower
Known as the symbol of Xi'an, the history of the Bell
Tower can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty. Each Ming
city had a bell
tower and a drum tower. The bell was sounded at dawn and
the drum at dusk. The Bell Tower has a square-shaped brick
platform, each side of which is 35 meters long and 8.6
meters high and on the top is a two-storied wooden structure
with carved beams and color-painted rafters, a further
27.4 meters high. Colorful Dougong -- a unique Chinese
architecture of brackets inserted on the top of columns
and crossbeams strengthen the building and enhance the
artistic style. The design of this kind is also perceptible
from the engravings on bronzes dating back to the Warring
States Period (475-221 B.C.). The inside is a remarkable
example of the very intricate roof truss system used in
Ming and Qing wooden architecture. In a corner of the
brick platform is a Ming-period bell. On fine day, you
may take on a panoramic view of the city from the parapet
on the second floor. |
The
Drum Tower
|
The Drum Tower is on the northern side of the western
street in the city. It was built in 1380 and were rebuilt
in 1699 and in 1740. It's named as the Drum Tower because
of the big drum placed on the tower, which was hit at
dusk everyday for giving the correct time. The Drum Tower
is 33 meters high, 52.6 meters wide with two-floors, and
its structure is straight up like a pole, with double
eaves and unique roof. The drum sounds sonorous and heavy,
which can be heard from 5 km away if it is beat heavily.
And this drum has been recorded in the Guinness Book of
Records. |
The
Banpo Museum
The Banpo Museum of Xi'an is the first site of prehistoric
museum in China, which is situated on the east bank of
the Chan  River
in the east district of Xi'an. About 6000 years ago, it
was the typical site where the enatic tribes met in the
drainage area of the Yellow River.
The Banpo village was found in 1953, and the museum was
completed in 1957 on the site of the archeological diggings,
which covers almost 50,000 square meters and is divided
into several parts respectively for the exhibition of
the ancient tribes with inhabitancy, ceramics and graves.
On display, there are relics of 46 room, 2 folds, over
2000 vaults and about 250 graves as well as some pottery
wares and farming tools. In addition, there are still
many artworks of colored pottery that showed the prehistoric
civilization in the drainage of the Yellow River. |
Huaqing
Hot Spring Palace
The Tang emperor, Xuanzong, had Huaqing Palace built by
the hot springs at the foot of Lishan Mountain in Lintong
County,
so that he could frolic with his favored Imperial Lady
Yang to his heart's content. Today, the hot spring facilities
have attracted a constant stream of visitors who come
both to catch a piece of history and enjoy the nice scenery
in the park. |
Forest
of Steles
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The Forest of Steles was first founded in 1090 during
the Song Dynasty. It is the oldest and richest collection
of steles in China. The steles are in such large quantity
that they are likened to a forest, hence the name. The
forest consists of six large exhibition halls, seven corridors
and a stele pavilion. There are more than 1,000 steles
from eight dynasties from the Han down to the Qing. They
are of great value to historians and for the study of
calligraphic development. |
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