Frizz Tagged X: Xi’an

The old Xi’an:

Xi’an (Chang’an) is one of the four ancient capitals (other three are Rome, Athens, and Cairo) in the world history. It was the capital of 13 most glorious dynasties in Chinese history.

The City Wall is a must see site, 8.5 miles long, 12 meters (40 feet) tall, 12-14 meters (40-46 feet) wide at the top, with 18 gates. It was built in Tang dynasty (618-907) and enlarged in Ming (1368–1644), the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

At night, all the towers in the city are lit up:

Below is the Drum Tower, it was erected in 1380 during the early Ming Dynasty. 12 drums were placed in its north side and another 12 in south side of the tower. in the old times, these drums were used to report the time. Here is a brief history about the city wall in Xi’an.

–One significance of this drum tower is that no iron nail was used anywhere in the Tower.

Terracotta Warriors were buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC; it was discovered in 1974 by local farmers. According to the current estimates, three pits (total of 27,000 sq feet) contains 8,000 Terracotta Army soldiers, only 1,000 have been unearthed.

These terracotta fragments are there waiting to be restored: 

The new Xi’an:

While the City puts enormous effort to preserve the ancient walls, towers, Terracotta Warriors, and treasures, they are also ambitiously building the city into the new era. The architecture of the new city adapts to the architecture style of the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD):

Subway in Xi’an was a $2.24 billion massive project, it is clean and accessible. Per ticket only costs 20 to 30 cents despite the distance. Here is the underpass in downtown:

The Shaanxi History Museum is known as “ancient capital pearl, Chinese treasure house”. The museum maintains 370,000 treasures:

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Here is a brief history about the city wall in Xi’an.