Xi’an,
the historical city, was
called Chang’an in
ancient times, and is
now the capital of
Shaanxi province.
Xi’an is situated in the
centre of Weihe Plain
with the towering and
verdant Mt.Qinling in
the south, with the
meandering and rolling
Beishan mountain system
in the north and eight
rivers around it, all of
which are at Guang Zhong
Plain (the centre of
passes). Historically,
it was famous for being
called "a gold city
stretching a thousand li"
with its fertile soil,
mild climate, adequate
rainfall and rich
products.
Xi’an has a long
history. Since the
earliest societies,
humanity lived and
multiplied here. It
served as a capital for
twelve dynasties,
including the Western
Zhou, Qin, Western Han,
Sui and Tang dynasties,
spanning over 1120
years. It became the
oriental cultural centre
of the Silk Road.
Many dynasties kept the
city beautiful and
magnificent. More than
two hundred and seventy
palaces and temples, for
example, were built in
the Qin dynasty, in the
Han dynasty the "Three
Han Palaces", namely
Changle, Weiyang,
Jianzhang Palaces, and
numerous other palaces
and watch towers were
built. In the City of
Chang’an of the Sui and
Tang dynasties,
luxurious palaces sprang
up like tree, of which
Taiji, Daming and
Xingqing Palaces and the
forbidden garden of the
Tang dynasty to the
north of the town were
very large. Now, from
these architectural
sites people still can
imagine the general
picture of what Chang’an
City was like, then. All
the emperors of the Qin,
Han, Tang and other
dynasties had their
magnificent mausoleums
built. Qin Shi Huang’s
mausoleum at the foot of
Lishan Hill in Lintong
county, for example, is
the earliest example of
a grand mausoleum for an
emperor in ancient
China. The twelve
emperors of the Western
Han dynasty were mostly
buried on the plateau to
the north of the Weihe
River. Their tomb-mounds
were man-made and quite
imposing, but emperors
of the Tang dynasty
began to have their
bombs constructed into
hills. They are
scattered in the
counties to the north of
the Weihe River and
called the "Eighteen
Tang Mausoleums". In
front of these
mausoleums were erected
huge stone carvings,
while inside them were
exquisite funeral
objects and colourful
murals, a feast for
one’s eyes. Some of the
monasteries and Buddhist
pagodas constructed in
many dynasties have
remained well preserved,
including the most
famous ones, as the Big
Wild Goose (Da Yan)
Pagoda in Ci’en Temple
and the Small Wild Goose
(Xiao Yan) Pagoda in
Jianfu Temple. The
bronze wares of ancient
China are an important
example of the splendid
culture that reflect
this slave society. Feng
and Hao in the Xi’an
area, which were the
capitals of the Western
Zhou dynasty, have been
acclaimed as "the Home
of the Bronze wares", as
a wealth of bronze items
unearthed from there,
over the years. It was
quite popular to put up
stone tablets in front
of tombs to record the
merits and achievements
of the departed, in many
dynasties, and a great
deal of stone tablets
and calligraphy data
remain to this day. So
Xi’an is also famous for
being "the Home of
Calligraphy".
Today’s Xi’an is the
biggest industrial city
and cultural centre in
Northwest China. There
are seven districts of
Beilin, Xincheng, Yanta,
Baqiao, Weiyang Yanliang,
Lianhu and six counties
of Chang’an, Lintong,
Gaolin under the
jurisdiction of the
municipal government.
Xi’an covers a total
area of over 9700 square
kilometres, and has a
population of over
5200000. |