Xi'an

　　City Introduction

Xi’an, named Chang’an during ancient times, is also one of the four ancient capitals in the world. It is the birth place of Chinese civilization. As the starting point of the Silk Road, Xi’an is China’s most influential capital with over 3,100-year city history and 1,100-year capital history.

(Source: www.xian-tourism.com)

Xi’an is a world-renowned tourism destination with a title of “Natural History Museum.” The city has 2 items and 6 places were recorded in The World Heritage List, which are: The Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and the Museum of Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses (the 2 items), the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, the Site of the Daminggong Palace, the Site of the Weiyang Palace, the Xingjiao Temple Pagoda, and the Great Buddhist Temple Grottoes (the 6 places).

History and Culture

Xi’an is one of the first batches of national historic and cultural cities selected by the State Council. It has an extremely long history; centuries ago, humanity's ancestors had been living in this land. With the Chinese civilization arising, 13 dynasties had selected the city as their capital. From the Western Han Dynasty, Xi’an became to the important center for China carrying out economic and cultural interflow with the world. It is one of the earliest cities opening to the outside world in China. It is called as Chang’an in the Western Han Dynasty. It develops the “Chang’an culture” which is the main force of Chinese civilization. In 1369, it was renamed as Xi’an.

During the Revolution of 1911, Xi’an was the earliest responding provincial capital. On Dec 12th, 1936, the Xi'an Incident took place in the city. After that, Xi’an raised a lot of talent people for China. And many Chinese heavyweights were staying here at that time. On May 20th, 1949, Xi’an announced the liberation. After 60 years of development, the city formed rather complete industrial and city service systems, which made the city an important base regarding academic, education, and national defense and technology areas. It was also recognized as the center of the northern Midwest region in financial, technological, educational, tourism, and business fields.

Natural Environment

Xi’an is a flat area with 10,018 square miles. The length from the east to the west is 204 miles; the width from the south to the north is 116 miles. The terrain of southeast is higher than the north. The Qinling Mountain crosses the south area, which is the important boundary of the north and south.

Climate

Xi’an is warm temperate zone with semi-humid continental monsoon climate. The seasons are rather distinctive. It has variably changing spring, hot and rainy summer, cool autumn, and dry winter. Average temperature is 13℃, the coldest period is January (average temperature is -0.6℃), the hottest period is July (average temperature is 26℃). Annual precipitation is 522.4-719.5 mm, progressively increasing from the north to the south.

Festivals

New Year: 1st–3rd, Jan

Spring Festival: 31st, Dec to 6th, Jan (Lunar calendar)

Qingming Festival: 2nd-4th. Apr

Labour Day: 30th, Apr – 2nd, May

Dragon Boat Festival: 9th-11th, Jun

Mid-autumn Day: 15th-17th, Sep

National Day: 1st-7th, Oct