Local Information

Xi'an's location in China

Xi'an 

As "the Cradle of Chinese Nationality", Xi’an is one of the prehistoric culture centers in Asia. It’s not only the birthplace of Chinese Nationality, but also a city with a long history about 3,100 years where 13 ancient dynasties built their capitals. As the starting point of the "Silk Road", Xi'an served as an important pivot and center in ancient foreign economy and culture exchange. The Tang dynasty reached the peak of feudalism, when Xi’an was named Chang’an as one of the biggest and most famous cities in the world. So far, Xian enjoys equal fame with Athens, Cairo, and Rome as one of the four major ancient civilization capitals.

Now, Xi’an is the capital of Shaanxi province, located in the southern part of the GuanZhong Plain. Xi’an is not only the geographical center of China but also the place reporting the Beijing Time. With the Qinling Mountains to the north and the Weihe River to the south, it is in a favorable geographical location surrounded by water and hills. It has become one of the top tourist cities of China. Besides of that, Xi’an has been greatly developed to be a prosperous city with many universities and high technical industries.

The cultural and historical significance of the area, as well as the abundant relics and sites, help Xi’an enjoy the laudatory title of "Natural History Museum". The Museum of Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses is praised as "the eighth major miracle of the world", Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang is listed on the World Heritage List, and the City Wall of the Ming Dynasty is the largest and most intact Ming Dynasty castle in the world. In the city, there is the 3000 year old Banpo Village Remains from the Neolithic Age, and the Forest of Stone Steles that holds 3,000 stone steles of different periods from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Around Xi'an, the Famen Temple enjoys the reputation of being the "forefather of pagodas and temples in Central Shaanxi," because it holds the finger bones of Sakyamuni--the founder of Buddhism. The natural landscape around Xian is also marvelous. Mt. Huashan, as one of the five best-known mountains in China, is famous for its breath-taking cliffs and its unique characteristics. (Cited from the website of www.travelchinaguide.com)

The Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses

Drum Tower and Bell Tower

Shaanxi History Museum

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

The Tang Paradise is located very close to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in the southeastern region of Xian city in Shaanxi province. Ti is one of the newly built tourist attractions that opened in April 2005. It’s a cultural theme park that covers an area of 165 acres that includes a large body of water (about 50 acres). The Tang Paradise is one of the largest cultural theme parks that’s based on the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Paradise is a unique combination of ancient history, culture, tradition, with certain modern technologies. One of the main attractions of the Tang Paradise is the water screen which plays movies. Basically, it’s a film of water sprayed into the air, with movie images projected on to it.

Xi’an is praised as “the capital of table delicacies”, serving delicious Shaanxi local food, Guangdong Cuisine, popular Sichuan Cuisine such as the hot pot, wonderful Hunan food and also many kinds of fashionable foreign delicacies. If you come to Xi’an for the first time and want to eat some characteristic food, the Muslim Snack Street is the right place. It’s one of the most attractive place to both Chinese and foreign people.

City Wall of the Ming Dynasty

According to the wall of the Sui and Tang Dynasties remained, Xi’an city wall was been rebuilt in the period of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty ( about 1370 AD). After eight years’ extension, it has became the most complete city wall that has survived in China .

The city wall now surrounds the center of Xi'an . It looks like a rectangule, and the perimeter is 11.9 kilometers. There are four city gates : Changle gate (meaning eternal joy) in the east, Anding (harmony peace) in the west, Yongning (eternal peace) in the south and Anyuan (forever harmony) in the north. With all of these, the city wall has become famous tourist attraction. 

Famen Temple

Famen Temple  is located in the famen town, about 10 kilometers away form Fufeng county and 110 kilometers away form Xi’an. Famen Temple was established in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25--220) for carrying forward Buddhism. It was at the height of power and splendor in the Tang Dynasty. The most representative structures in the temple are the Famen Temple Pagoda and Famen Temple Museum.

After been rebuilt for many times, Famen Temple has become increasingly majestic.It combines history and faith , making the temple turn into the most significant place of Buddhism in China. Significant.

Local Food

A majority of the local food is been cooked by flour. Such as the famous food yangroupaomoroujiamoand a large amount of noodles. Also, dumplings and baozi are common in our diet. There are many other dishes. For example, the liangpibarbecue and so on.

The food in Xi’an is the treasure in our country. It not only has a variety of kind but also pays attention to the nutrition. The characteristic of our traditional food is daintily .Because of this , our food can be used in the formal dinner party and in the daily life as well.