Xi'an, the largest city in the Shaanxi Province, is one of the ancient capital cities of China. It served twelve dynasties including Western Zhou, Qin, Western Han, Sui and Tang, stretching over 2000 years. It became the Oriental cultural center along the Silk Road. The cultural and historical significance of the area gives Xi'an the laudatory title of "natural history museum".



Xi'an is the largest city in the Shaanxi Province with a history that goes back more than 3000 years. From the earliest societies, people lived and multiplied here. Of the six ancient capital cities of China，Xi'an was the capital for the longest time ? it served twelve dynasties (more than any other city) including the well-known Western Zhou, Qin, Western Han, Sui and Tang, stretching over a total of more than 2000 years. During its history it became the Oriental cultural center along the Silk Road.

Xi'an has a population of six million. The people who live here are mainly Han, Hun, Manchu and Mongol and most speak a local dialect which sounds similar to Mandarin. The government language is Mandarin and the main religion is Buddhism.

Historically, Xi'an was famous for being called "a gold city stretching a thousand li (547,000 yards)" with its fertile soil, mild climate, adequate rainfall and rich products. Six to seven thousand years ago, a stable village was built by a late Neolithic people, the Banpo. It had about sixty buildings and housed over 200 people from two clans. It was a matriarchal society based on farming.

Over the next 3,000 years the descendants of these people would found new villages, begin to build cities, use jade, bronze, and copper, and increase their skills in agriculture. The first dynasty/government was called the Xia and lasted from 2200 to 1700 B.C.. After that, change became more rapid.

Over the centuries successive capitals have changed their names and locations, as well as their characters. The remains of Gaojing, the capital during the Western Zhou dynasty (1027-771 BC), consisted of crude bronze artifacts for cooking, burial and farming. They reflect an early agricultural society.

In 221 B.C. Ying Zheng (Qin Shihuangdi), became the First Emperor of Qin. He began work on his tomb shortly after becoming king of Qin at the age of 13; he was 52 by the time it was completed. It covers 56.25 square kilometers and it took 700,000 workers to build the 8,000 terra-cotta warriors; thousands of them were buried within the tomb. The tradition of "xun" may help to explain the great care taken to make each model unique -- each of the 8,000 soldiers has their own facial features and hair-style, and although they are dressed in the same uniform, the folds and fit are unique. In 222 and 223 B.C.,the First Emperor ordered the burning of books on history and philosophy and the burying alive of 460 Confucian scholars who had the temerity to continue teaching principles drawn from the past. He also managed to build over 6,000 miles of road, enough to rival those of the Roman Empire; over a thousand miles of canals for flood control, transportation and irrigation;, and consolidated three sections of what would be the Great Wall into a wall of 5,000 li (2,735,000 yards). The work on the wall alone took 10 years and 300,000 soldiers and countless numbers of civilians. Qin Shihuangdi centralized the bureaucracy and government to control rival states within the empire. The Qin dynasty was quickly overthrown following the death of the First Emperor.

The Western Han dynasty (206BC-8AD) moved the capital to within ten kilometres of Xi'an, to a city called Chang'an. It became the economic and cultural center of China. Many magnificent buildings were constructed, including the Shangle, Weiyang, and Chengzhang Palaces, as well as the imperial garden Shangliyuan. The ancient trading route, the Silk Road, was established during that time, and silk, paper, tea, iron casting and irrigation and other inventions were exported to the West. At the easternmost point of the route, Xi'an was China's first city open to the world. It was during this period that trade also began with West Asia and the Roman Empire. Just as in present-day China, a special street was set aside to accommodate foreign visitors and a protocol department supervised their undertakings.

In the 5th century, the Sui Dynasty rebuilt Chang'an on the plain where modern Xi'an now stands. After the Eastern Han dynasty (8-220 AD) transferred the imperial capital to Luoyang, it didn't return to Xi'an until China was once more reunified under the Sui dynasty (589-618). Once more the grandiose schemes of a despotic, conquering Emperor were curtailed by a dynasty more amenable to the people.

During the golden age of the Tang dynasty (618-907), when China led the world in culture, technology and wealth, Chang'an became a focus for new ideas. A vast and splendid city of eighty square km, only twenty less than today's industrialized city, it contained a two million strong population. So beautiful were its buildings and so orderly was its design that the Japanese used Chang'an as the model for the already existant, smaller cities of Kyoto and Nara. By the 7th century Chang'an had become the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the world.

Skipping a few centuries and many name changes, Xi'an during the Ming dynasty was refurbished and returned to prominence as a center of politics and trade. The Ming emperors rebuilt the walls, incorporating one corner left over from the Yuan dynasty into their design. While the architecture of the Ming is steadfastly angular, the curved rampart of Hun design added grace to the design. The walls are flat and straight, making them tempting for a 15km jog. Altogether, the town of Xi'an during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was not much larger than the Tang Imperial Palace. Growth, if not glory, began again in 1949; new industries and universities were built, and the population has quadrupled to two million. The cultural and historical significance of the area, as well as the abundant relics and sites, helps Xi'an to enjoy the laudatory title of being a "natural history museum".

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