Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province with a 3,000-year history, was known as Chang'an in ancient times. For 1,062 years the city had been capital for 13 dynasties, and a total of 73 emperors had ruled China there. That is why the land of the city is pockmarked with cultural relics and historical ruins. The mausoleum of Qinshihuang and his mighty army of terracotta warriors and horses are world-famous attractions. The other scenes and sights include Banpo Village Ruins, Greater and Lesser Wild-Goose Pagodas, Bell Tower and Drum Tower, City Wall, Xingjiao Temple, Famen Temple, Shaanxi History Museum, Xi'an Stele Forest, and Grand Mosque. The celebrated Silk Road began in Xi'an.
Wild-Goose Pagodas
Completed in 652, or the 3rd year of Yonghui reign of the Tang emperor Gaozong, the 64.1-metre-high Greater Wild-Goose Pagoda in Ci'en Temple is a pavilion-like brick structure whose serene and well-proportioned form has become the emblem of the city of Xi'an. A later comer during the Tang, the Lesser Wild-Goose Pagoda in Jianfu Temple is an exquisite and graceful 43.3-metre-high structure with 13 floors.
Stele Forest
Situated in the Shaanxi Museum, the Stele Forest of Xi'an is the largest and oldest of its kind in China with a collection of 2,300 stone tablets and epitaphs from the Han, Wei, Jin, Sui Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, forming comprehensive library of books-on-stones that of immeasurable historical and artistic value.
City Wall of Xi'an
Xi'an boasts the only city wall to remain intact to this day in China. Built during the early Ming on the basis of the Tang imperial city of Chang'an, and laid out on a rectangular plan 13.7 km in circumference, this wall stands 12 meters high, 12-14 meters wide at the top and 15-18 metres wide at the base. A total of 5,894 crenel are built along the outer edge of the wall, each of its four corners is topped by a turret, and a main gateway is built into each of the wall's four sides. The top of the wall has been converted into a promenade, so that visitors can take a stroll while feasting their eyes on the scenery within and without the city and musing upon the distant past of this ancient city.
Terracota Warriors & Horses
This mighty army of terracotta warriors and horses, found in three vaults 39 km east of Xi'an and 1.5 km from the Qin emperor's mausoleum, is perhaps the most popular tourist attraction of Shaanxi. An-in-site museum has been built over these pits, covering a floor space of 20.000 square meters and displaying 8.000 life-size terracotta warriors, 100 or so chariots, and 30.000 weapons - an assemblage billed as the Eighth World Wonder and a world cultural heritage site.