Xi’An 西安 – lively city !

Xi'An is the provincial capital of ShaanXi, central China.

August 13th 2016 : high heat alert - over 40C is seriously hot so take plenty of water (and some salty food).

Xi'An is one of the oldest cities in China and was known as Chang'An prior to the Ming dynasty. Indeed, Xi'An is the oldest of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, having held this position under several of the most important dynasties in Chinese history, including the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang.

Xi'An was the eastern starting point of the ancient Silk Road trade route.

Xi'An is also home to the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang, who became China's first emperor after the Qin (dynasty: 220 to 210 BC) conquered / unified all of the other Warring States. Rather than maintain the title of 'king' borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he created the title of 'emperor' (皇帝, HuángDì), which would continue to be borne by Chinese rulers for the next two millennia.

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ShaanXi map

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