The Bell Tower seen from the south gate on the city wall

City guide · 西安 · 古称长安

Xi'an

Chang'an, a thousand-year capital: the Terracotta Army, the Wild Goose Pagoda and six-hundred-year-old walls

Photo: Gary Todd · CC0

Xi'an, anciently called Chang'an, is one of the most important capitals in Chinese history. East of the city the Terracotta Army guards the tomb of Qin Shi Huang; in the south the Big Wild Goose Pagoda marks Xuanzang's return from India with the scriptures; and the Ming city walls still completely enclose the old city — at dusk you can cycle along them and watch the sunset.

History

How the city came to be

The Western Zhou capitals, Feng and Hao, stood on both banks of the Feng River in today's western suburbs of Xi'an. In the Warring States period the State of Qin built its capital, Xianyang, north of the Wei River, and Qin Shi Huang kept it as his capital after unifying China; the Western Han built a new city south of the Wei and named it Chang'an, meaning 'lasting peace'. The Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang all made their capitals here, and Chang'an was the starting point of the Silk Road. In 652 Xuanzang oversaw the building of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to house the scriptures he had brought back from India. Work on today's city walls began in 1370, the third year of the Ming Hongwu reign. In 1974 farmers digging a well in Lintong discovered the Terracotta Army.

11th century BCThe Western Zhou built its capital, Fenghao, on both banks of the Feng River
221 BCQin unified China, with its capital Xianyang north of the Wei River
Western HanA new city of Chang'an was built south of the Wei River
652Xuanzang oversaw the building of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda
1370Work began on Xi'an's Ming-dynasty city walls
1974Farmers digging a well in Lintong discovered the Terracotta Army

Stories

Stories of the city

History · Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Da Ci'en Temple

Xuanzang's seventeen years and a pagoda

In 629 Xuanzang set out west from Chang'an, travelling through Central Asia to India, where he studied under the master Śīlabhadra at Nālandā; he returned to Chang'an in 645 with at least 657 Sanskrit texts. To preserve these scriptures and Buddha images safely, in 652 he oversaw the building of a pagoda in the style of the Western Regions — the pagoda of Da Ci'en Temple. The original later decayed, and Wu Zetian and nobles paid for it to be demolished and rebuilt as a seven-storey square pavilion-style pagoda, which survives today.

History · Terracotta Army

The underground palace described by Sima Qian

The Western Han historian Sima Qian recorded in the 'Basic Annals of Qin Shi Huang' in the 'Records of the Grand Historian' that after unifying the realm, Qin Shi Huang conscripted 700,000 people from across the country to build his tomb, and that its underground palace used mercury to represent the hundred rivers and the great sea, made to flow by machinery. When the uprisings broke out at the end of Qin, the general Zhang Han diverted the 700,000 tomb workers to suppress them, and only then did work stop. Whether Sima Qian's description is accurate is still debated, and the main tomb has never been excavated.

Xi'an at a glance

Best season: Spring (March–May) and autumn (September–November) are most comfortable; summers are hot, winters dry and cold but quiet.
Getting there: Xi'an Xianyang International Airport has a metro into the city; high-speed trains connect to Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other major cities, and Xi'an North Station has a direct metro to the centre.
Getting around: The metro covers the Bell Tower, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and other main sights; for the Terracotta Army, take the metro and a shuttle bus or a tourist bus line.
Where to stay: Staying inside the walls around the Bell Tower and the Muslim Quarter is most convenient; to see the Datang Everbright City lights at night, stay near the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Country notes: Money, tipping and red lines in China →

Open in Google Maps

People