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XIAN
At a glance | General Information | Travel | Attractions | Tours originating: Xian

Xian Attractions: Terra-Cotta Warriors & Horses Pits | Big Wild Goose Pagoda | Little Wild Goose Pagoda | Ming Walls | Banpo Neolithic Village Museum | Shanxi Provincial Museum | Bell Tower | Drum Tower | Great Mosque | City Wall | Famen Temple | Huaqing Hot Springs | Ba Xian'an Monastery | Daxingshan Temple | Forest of Stone Steles Museum | Green Dragon Temple

Xian at a glance:

As one of the six ancient capitals in China, Xi'an served as the seat of 12 imperial capitals for 1,120 years and also a world-famous tourist city, a treasure house of cultural relics. Location: located at 33 north and 107 east, in the southern part of Guan Zhong Plain in Shaanxi province with Qinling Mountains to the north and the Weihe River to the south. Neighboring Areas: Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Gansu Provinces; Ningxia Hui and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regions. Physical Features: with an elevation of 500m, the Weihe Plain extends between Baoji in the west and Tongguan in the east and borders the Qinling Mountains in the south and the Huangtu Plateau in the north. Lying in the warm zone, the plain has a temperate climate with four distinct seasons. Chequered with the Weihe, Jinghe, Luohe, and Bahe rivers as well as the Jinghui, Weihui and Luohui canals, the fertile land on the plain has easy access to irrigation facilities and an abundant yield of farm produce. Xi'an lies in the center to the south of this plain, a favorable geographical location surrounded by water and hills. Nationalities: Han, Hui. Population: 6.62 million. Urban Population: 3.73 million. Area: 16,808 sq. km. Climatic Features: temperate and continental climate; cold and dry in winter and hot in summer and rainy season comes in July, August and September. Average Temperature: 13.3C annually. Rainfall: 604.2mm annually. Mountains: Mt. Huashan, Mt. Taibaishan, Mt. Lishan. Rivers: Hui River, Wei River, Feng River, Jing River.

General Information:
Xi'an, the ancient capital of China, is situated in the central part of the country, between the Weihe River in the north and the Qinling Mountains in the south. The city lies on a major rail route which runs from Lianyungang on the Yellow Sea via Urumqi in the autonomous region of Xinjiang and on to Kazakhstan. There are direct rail links with Beijing and Shanghai as well as flights to most large Chinese cities, including Hong Kong. Xi'an is one of northwest China's chief textile centers, where cotton grown in the artificially irrigated paddy fields in the neighboring countryside is treated and processed. Other major industries are chemicals pharmaceutical manufacturing and civil engineering. (There are several major universities as well as art and trade schools). Xian probably possesses more items of archaeological interest than any other town or city in China - the most important, of course, being the world-famous Terra-Cotta Warriors. Xian is an ancient site, and there are layers of cities of different names beneath and around it. The land is fertile, renewed yearly by the silt from the Yellow River. Both nomadic and farming people enjoyed the relatively flat landscape, ready water, and ease of travel. Long ago, traders’ camps were erected outside the city walls--a mixture of colorful tents, utensils, bags, and bundles. The traders’ wares were cottons and exotic spices from India, metals and ceramics, scrolls of paintings, and seeds - most of it to be bartered for cascades of silk in all colors and textures to take on the return journey west. Today's city is smaller than Beijing, the present capital of China, and moves at a slower pace. Trees lend color and softness to most streets. It retains an almost mystical charm. Not to be missed when visiting Xi'an is the Qinqiang Opera. There are more than ten kinds of local operas in Xi'an, including Qinqiang, Wanwanqiang, Mihu, Tongzhou Bangzi, and the newly recreated Xi'an music and dances of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). Of all these, Qinqiang is the most popular. All the operas are characterized by impassioned, sonorous, and forceful melodies. This music is warmly welcomed by the broad masses of the people.