Xian

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Image:Xian pass.jpg
The suberway around the Bell Tower

Xian (西安; pinyin: Xī'ān, Wade-Giles: Hsi-An, literal meaning: "Western Peace") is the capital of Shaanxi province, in China and a sub-provincial city. It was one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China because it has been the capital of 12 dynasties such as Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang. Xi'an is the eastern end of the Silk Road. The city has more than 3,100 years of history. It was called Ch�ng'an (長&#23433), meaning "Perpetual Peace", in ancient times.

The city is surrounded by a well-preserved defensive wall.

The Tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi and his Terracotta Army are located outside the city.

It is the sister city with Kyoto, Japan and with Pau, France. Its GDP per capita was �15493 (ca. US$1870) in 2003, ranked no. 129 among 659 Chinese cities.

History

Zhou Dynasty established its capital in Feng (沣) and Gao (镐) between the late 11th century BC and 770 BC, both located west of contemporary Xian.

Qin Dynasty (221 BC � 206 BC) constructed its capital in the north shore of Wei River, which was burned by Xiang Yu at the end of the dynasty.

202 BC: Liu Bang (刘邦), the founding emperor of Han Dynasty establish Chang�an County as his capital; his first palace Changle Palace (长乐宫) was built across the river from the ruin of the Qin capital. This is traditionally regarded as the founding date of Chang�an and Xian.

200 BC: Emperor Liu Bang built Weiyang Palace (未央宫) in Chang�an.

194 BC: Construction of the first city wall of Chang�an began, which did not finished until 190 BC. The wall measured 25.7 km in length, 12-16 m in thickness at the base. The area within the wall was ca. 36 square km.

582 AD: Emperor of Sui Dynasty ordered a new capital to be built southeast of the Han capital, called Daxing (大興). It consisted of three sections: the Palace, the Imperial City, and the civilian section. The total area within the wall was 84 square km, The main street Zhuque Avenue measured 155 m in width. It was the largest city in the world. The city was renamed Chang�an (長安) in Tang Dynasty.

7th century: Buddhist monk Xuan Zang established a sizeable translation centre after returning from India with Sanskrit scriptures.

701 AD: Construction of Da Yan Pagoda (大雁塔) began. It measured 64 m in height. This pagoda was constructed for the storage of the translation of Master Xuan Zang.

707 AD: Construction of Xiao Yan Pagoda (小雁塔) began. It measured 45 m in height. After the earthquake of 1556 AD, only 43.4 m remains.

904 AD: The end of Tang Dynasty brought destruction to Chang�an. Residences were forced to move to Luoyang, the new capital. Only a small area continued to be occupied after the destruction.

1370 AD: Ming Dynasty built a new wall to protect a much smaller city of 12 square km. The wall measures 11.9 km in length, 12 m in height, and 15-18 m in thickness at the base.

This city was the site of the Xian Incident in 1936 during World War II. Xi'an Incident brought the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang to a truce so the two forces could concentrate on fighting against Japan.