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Xi'an
was one of the most important cradles of Chinese civilization. The
famous “Silk Road” that linked China with central Asia and the Roman
Empire
starts in Xi’an in the east. The
city served as the first capital of a unified China and capital
of 11 dynasties periodically from the 11th century BC to the early 10th
century AD.
Located between rivers
and mountains in the center of the fertile Guanzhong Plain in Shaanxi
province, Xi'an--the provincial capital--is the natural place to nurture
the nation's civilization. Back in the Neolithic Age, about 6,000 years
ago, as excavations show, a matriarchal clan was formed at Banpo village
in the region.
Thousands of years
later, the Zhou kings established their capital in settlements only a
few miles from the present-day city. In 331 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first
emperor of unified China, set about expanding
the settlement of Xianyang, about 15 miles northwest of the city. This
town, established under earlier Qin rulers as the capital, became
heavily populated, so that in 313 BC, Emperor
Qin decided to move his court to the south bank of the Wei River.
A vast palace was begun. However, the
work was never completed in his lifetime, and some years later
when the Qin fell to the Han (306 BC), this and most of the other
palaces were set
ablaze and destroyed.
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Xi'an Bell Tower |
The conqueror, Liu
Bang, first emperor of the Han Dynasty, established his capital only a
few miles north of modern
day Xi'an.
From about 35 AD, the
town went into a decline that lasted about five and a half centuries,
until, in 583 AD, the Sui emperor, Wen Di, established his capital
southeast of Changan. The area
flourished and developed so quickly under the Tang Dynasty that in time
it became the most prominent
city in Asia, with a population of about a million people living in a
vast, well-planned area protected by large walls with ramparts.
For over a millennium
from the Second Century BC, China's silk was transported from Xi'an to
central Asia and Europe. Although damaged by several wars, Xi'an,
covering 880 square miles and with a population of 3,915,000 still
contains a host of historical sites.
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Xi'an Bell Tower Square |
SHAANXI PROVINCIAL
MUSEUM (Forest of Stele)
The Shaanxi Provincial Museum is an expansion
of the Forest of Stele, located on the site of the ancestral
temple of the Tang Dynasty. The garden-style
museum of ancient architecture is kept
to protect the cultural relics and for
the display and study of antiquities. The Forest of Stele was
first founded in 1090, during the Song Dynasty. It is the oldest and
richest collection of stele in China. The steles are in
such large quantity that they are likened to a forest, hence the
name.
The
forest consists of six large exhibition halls, seven corridors and a
stele pavilion. There are more than 1,000 stele from
eight dynasties from the Han down to the Qing. They are of great value
to historians and for the study of calligraphic development. |
