Xi’an, China

AUTHOR: Tar Guevara
PHOTOS: Tar Guevara

Xi'an City Wall

Here’s a brief description of Xi’an from Wikipedia:

“Xi’an  has a very important part in Chinese history. It served as the imperial capital for 12 ancient imperial dynasties from 1,000 BC to 1,000 AD. Xi’an’s history began in the Stone Age about 3,000 years ago when the Western Zhou Dynasty founded its capital at Haojing, today’s Xi’an. Western Zhou Dynasty was famous for its bronze, some of which is now displayed in Shaanxi Provincial Museum.”

Xi'an Boulevard

This ancient city is my favorite out of all the places that we toured in China. It was foggy on the day we arrived in Xi’an. It felt like we were walking into a dream. We went to visit the northern tower of the 14 kilometer ancient city wall later that afternoon after checking in at our hotel. Our hotel, King Dynasty hotel, was an older but elegant hotel overlooking the inner city inside the ancient city wall.

King Dynasty Hotel

Xi’an is not as cosmopolitan as Shanghai which makes it an ideal place to visit if you really want to experience the “old” China. Most of the buildings in the inner city inside the ancient city wall are excellent examples of traditional Chinese architecture with their elaborately detailed rooftops. The buildings that surround the main plaza in the middle of town are all lit up at night which reminded me of Disney World’s Epcot.

Xi'an at Night

This main plaza comes to life at night with kite peddlers, glow-in-the-dark spinning toy merchants, shoppers, and diners like ourselves who were on our way to a local restaurant known for its dumplings. I’ve never had so many varieties of dumplings in one seating. I’ll never forget that meal for the rest of my life!

Xi'an Underground

Xi'an bridge

Xi'an Kites

Xi’an is also home to emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum and his “Terracotta Warriors and Horses”. The terracotta figures date back to 210 BC and were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers near Xi’an, Shaanxi province while digging for water. The figures vary in height (183–195 cm – 6ft–6ft 5in), according to their role, the tallest being the generals. The figures include strong warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits.

Terracotta Warriors Pit#1

Terracotta Warriors

Terracotta Warriors Pit#3

Terracotta Warriors Pit#2

Terracotta Horses

Another memorable moment that we experienced in Xi’an was going to the musical dinner show “Tang Dynasty”. The costumes were so vibrantly colorful and the music which were played on authentic Chinese instruments was unbelievable! It’s a show worthy of a permanent venue in Las Vegas. It reminded me of a Cirque du Soleil production.

Tang Dynasty dancer

Tang Dynasty dancers

Tang Dynasty String Section

Tang Dynasty male dancer

A unique advantage with taking this tour through Grand Circle Travel is that we had the opportunity to interact with the local people by having lunches with different host families. We also got to visit a local school which was sponsored by Grand Circle Travel.

Xi'an school kids

Xi'an school kids

Xi'an school kids

Xi'an Mother & Baby

We all hated to leave this wonderful city behind. It was finally dawning on us all that our China trip was soon coming to an end. We all have begun to bond with each other as a group and China was beginning to become part of us as well. We leave for our final destination, Beijing, the following day.

Shanghai, China
Suzhou, China

*All the pictures on this page were taken with Canon’s 450D which is also known as the Rebel Xsi. Get you one today by clicking on the image below!

Canon Rebel XSi

Digital cameras scoring 9+ image quality on DPReview

CHECK HOTEL RATES AND AVAILABILITY IN XI’AN TODAY! CLICK HERE!