Xi’an

The old centre of China

The name

The two Chinese characters in the name "Xi'an" literally mean Western Peace. The local Xi'anese pronunciation of Xi'an is almost the same as the Standard Mandarin pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin. This name derives from the Ming Dynasty, when the city's name changed from its former title of "Chang'an". In fact, the naming conventions used for the city have often changed throughout time. The city was named "Fenghao" (丰鎬 ) in the Zhou Dynasty (周 ) beginning around 1046 BC. It was renamed Chang'an (長安 ) during the Han Dynasty (汉 ) in 206 BC. It was then renamed as Daxing (大興 ) during the Sui Dynasty (隋 ) in 581 AD, then renamed Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty beginning in 618 AD. It was given other names in later periods, such as Fengyuan (奉元 ), then Anxi (安西 ), then Jingzhao (京兆 ) during the Yuan (元 ) Dynasty. Finally, it was named Xi'an in the year 1369 AD during the Ming Dynasty. It retained the name of Xi'an until 1928, until it was named Xijing (西京 ) in 1930. It was once again changed back to its Ming-era name of Xi'an in the year 1943.

The Geography

Xi'an lies on the Guanzhong Plain in central China, on a flood plain created by the eight surrounding rivers and streams, most of which are too polluted to be used as sources of fresh water. The city has an average elevation of 400 meters above sea level and an annual precipitation of 1100 millimeters. The urban area of Xi'an is located at 34°16′N 108°56′E, 108.933 The provides potable water to the city.

The city borders the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains to the south, and the banks of the Wei River to the north. Hua Shan, one of the five sacred Taoist mountains, is located 100 km away to the east of the city.

At the beginning of Han Dynasty, Prime Minister Liang Zhang advised the emperor Liu Bang Ku to choose Guanzhong as the capital of Chickzu: 'Guanzhong Plain, which is located behind Xiao Pass and Hangu Pass, connects Long Plain and Shu Plain. Land of thousands miles and rich in harvest can be found here, as if this place is belongs to the nation of the heaven.' ("关中左崤函 , 右陇蜀 , 沃野千里 , 此所谓金城千里 , 天府之国也 " 《史记 ·留侯世家》 ) Since then, Guanzhong is also known as 'Nation of the Heaven'.

National Time Service Centre The Shaanxi Astronomical Observatory was established in 1966. In 1975, according to the Geodetic

Origin Report of the People's Republic of China, 'in order to avoid bias in the mensuration as much as possible, the Geodetic Origin would be in central mainland China.' Jingyang (泾阳 ), a town near Xi'an was chosen. Since 1986, Chinese Standard Time (CST) was set from NTSC. The NTSC at Jingyang is 36km away from Xi'an. Distances to the national borders are 880km to the North, 2500km to the Northeast, 1000km to the East, 1750km to the South, 2250km to the Southwest, 2930km to the West, and 2500km to the Northwest.

National Time Service Center (NTSC), the Chinese Academy of Sciences is an institute which is mainly engaged in the service and research on time and frequency. NTSC takes charge of generating and maintaining the national standard time scale, disseminating the time and frequency signals. The autonomous standard time scales of universal time and atomic time and the dissemination techniques with LF radio and HF radio were established successively during the 1970s and 1980s, which meet all the requirements for different applications on the whole, such as the scientific researches, national economy, etc.[3]

The map of Xi’an

Xi’an

The history Xi'an has a rich and culturally significant history. The Lantian Man was discovered in 1963 in Lantian County (蓝田县 ;

pinyin: Lántián Xiàn), 50 km southeast of Xi'an, and dates back at least 500,000 years before present. A 6,500 year old Banpo (半坡 ) Neolithic village in was discovered in 1954 on the outskirts of the city proper.

Xi'an become a cultural and industrial center of China in 11th century BCE with the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. The capital of Zhou was established in Fēng (沣 /灃 ) and Hào (镐 /鎬 ), both located just west of contemporary Xi'an. Following the Warring States Period, China was unified under the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) for the first time, with the capital located at Xianyang (咸阳 ), just northwest from modern Xi'an. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of the Terracotta Army and his mausoleum just east of Xi'an shortly before his death.

In 202 BCE, the founding emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty established his capital in Chang'an County; his first palace Changle Palace (长乐宫 /長樂宮 , perpetual happiness) was built across the river from the ruin of the Qin capital. This is traditionally regarded as the founding date of Chang'an, or Xi'an. Two years later, Liu Bang built Weiyang Palace (未央宫 ) north of modern Xi'an. The original Xi'an city wall was started in 194 BCE and took 4 years to finish. Upon completion, the wall measured 25.7 km in length and 12-16 m in thickness at the base, enclosing an area of 36 km². In year 190, amidst uprisings and rebellions just prior to the Three Kingdoms Period, a powerful warlord named Dong Zhuo moved the court from Luoyang to Chang'an in a bid to avoid a coalition of other powerful warlords against him.

Following several hundred years of unrest, Sui Dynasty united China again in 582. The emperor of Sui ordered a new capital to be built southeast of the Han capital, called DaXing (大兴 /大興 , great excitement). It consisted of three sections: the Xi'an Palace, the Imperial City, and the civilian section, with a total area of 84 km² within the city walls. At the time, it was the largest city in the world. The city was renamed Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty. In the mid-7th century, after returning from his pilgrimage to India, Buddhist monk Xuan Zang (popularly known as Tang Sanzang) established a translation center for Sanskrit scriptures.

Construction of the Da Yan Pagoda (大雁塔 , Great Wild Goose Pagoda) began in 652. This pagoda was 64 m in height, and was built to store the translations of Buddhist sutras obtained from India by the Xuan Zang. In 707, construction of the Xiao Yan Pagoda (小雁塔 , Little Wild Goose Pagoda) began, and measured 45 m tall at the time of completion. An earthquake in 1556 damaged the tower and reduced its height to 43.4 m.

Chang'an was devastated at the end of the Tang Dynasty in 904. Residents were forced to move to the new capital city in Luoyang. Only a small area in the city continued to be occupied thereafter. During the Ming Dynasty, a new wall was constructed in 1370 and remains intact to this day. The wall measures 11.9 km in circumference, 12 m in height, and 15-18 m in thickness at the base; a moat was also built outside the walls. The new wall and moat would protect a much smaller city of 12 km².

In 1936, the Xi'an Incident took place inside the city walls during the Chinese Civil War. The incident brought the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang to a truce to in order to concentrate on fighting against the Japanese Invasion.

The famous buildings in Xi’an

The famous food in Xi’an