Xi'an, the historical city, was called Chang'an in ancient times,
and is now the capital of Shaanxi province. Xi'an is situated in
the center of Weihe Plain with the towering and verdant Mt. Qinling
in the south, with the meandering and rolling Beishan mountain system
in the north and eight rivers around it, all of which are at Guang
Zhong Plain (the center of passes). Historically, it was famous
for being called "a gold city stretching a thousand li"
with its fertile soil, mild climate, adequate rainfall and rich
products.
Xi'an has a long history. Since the earliest societies, humanity
lived and multiplied here. It served as a capital for twelve dynasties,
including the Western Zhou, Qin, Western Han, Sui and Tang dynasties,
spanning over 1120 years. It became the oriental cultural center
of the Silk Road.
Many dynasties kept the city beautiful and magnificent. More than
two hundred and seventy palaces and temples, for example, were built
in the Qin dynasty, in the Han dynasty the "Three Han Palaces",
namely Changle, Weiyang, Jianzhang Palaces, and numerous other palaces
and watch towers were built. In the City of Chang'an of the Sui
and Tang dynasties, luxurious palaces sprang up like tree, of which
Taiji, Daming and Xingqing Palaces and the forbidden garden of the
Tang dynasty to the north of the town were very large. Now, from
these architectural sites people still can imagine the general picture
of what Chang'an City was like, then. All the emperors of the Qin,
Han, Tang and other dynasties had their magnificent mausoleums built.
Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum at the foot of Lishan Hill in Lintong
county, for example, is the earliest example of a grand mausoleum
for an emperor in ancient China. The twelve emperors of the Western
Han dynasty were mostly buried on the plateau to the north of the
Weihe River. Their tomb-mounds were man-made and quite imposing,
but emperors of the Tang dynasty began to have their bombs constructed
into hills. They are scattered in the counties to the north of the
Weihe River and called the "Eighteen Tang Mausoleums".
In front of these mausoleums were erected huge stone carvings, while
inside them were exquisite funeral objects and colorful murals,
a feast for one's eyes. Some of the monasteries and Buddhist pagodas
constructed in many dynasties have remained well preserved, including
the most famous ones, as the Big Wild Goose (Da Yan) Pagoda in Ci'en
Temple and the Small Wild Goose (Xiao Yan) Pagoda in Jianfu Temple.
The bronze wares of ancient China are an important example of the
splendid culture that reflect this slave society. Feng and Hao in
the Xi'an area, which were the capitals of the Western Zhou dynasty,
have been acclaimed as "the Home of the Bronze wares",
as a wealth of bronze items unearthed from there, over the years.
It was quite popular to put up stone tablets in front of tombs to
record the merits and achievements of the departed, in many dynasties,
and a great deal of stone tablets and calligraphy data remain to
this day. So Xi'an is also famous for being "the Home of Calligraphy".
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