Wednesday, 29 August 2018 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Asia / Asien Category/Kategorie: General, UNESCO World HeritageReading Time: 6minutes
Since the 1990s, as part of the economic revival of inland China especially for the central and northwest regions, the city of Xi’an has re-emerged as an important cultural, industrial and educational centre of the central-northwest region, with facilities for research and development, national security and China’s space exploration program. Xi’an currently holds sub-provincial status, administering 9 districts and 4 counties. As of 2015 Xi’an has a population of 8,705,600, and the Xi’an-Xianyang metropolitan area has a population of 12.9 million. It is the most populous city in Northwest China, as well as one of the three most populous cities in Western China. According to a July 2012 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it was recently named as one of the 13 emerging megacities, or megalopolises, in China. The report pinpoints and highlights the demographic and income trends that are shaping these cities’ development.
The number of travelers is often greater during Summer (May–August), although the most pleasant season for visiting Xi’an is Autumn. Because of the city’s many historical monuments and a plethora of ancient ruins and tombs in the vicinity, tourism has been an important component of the local economy, and the Xi’an region is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China. The city has many important historical sites, and some are ongoing archaeological projects, such as the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and his Terracotta Army. There are several burial mounds, tombs of the Zhou dynasty kings located in the city. Xi’an also contains some 800 royal mausoleums and tombs from the Han dynasty, with some of them yielding hundreds of sculpted clay soldiers, and remains of sacrificial temples from the Han era. The city has numerous Tang dynasty pagodas and is noted for its history museum and its stele forest, which is housed in an 11th-century Confucian temple containing large stone tablets from various dynasties. Some of the most well-known sites in Xi’an are:
The city is surrounded by a well-preserved city wall which was re-constructed in the 14th century during the early Ming dynasty and was based on the inner imperial palace of Tang dynasty.
The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and his Terracotta Army are located 40 km (25 mi) to the east of the city centre, in the city’s suburbs.
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and Small Wild Goose Pagoda are both spectacular towers and both are well over 1,000 years old and have survived great earthquakes. The former is next to a large square with the largest fountain in Asia which projects water high into the air, rising and falling in time to music during one of the daily performances (usually at noon and soon after sunset). They protected Buddhist writings in the past.
The Stele Forest is famous for its numerous historic inscriptions and stoneworks
The Famen Temple and its towering pagoda located 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of Xi’an
Xi’an Museum (located next to the Small Wild Goose Pagoda). On October 20, 2006, international council of monuments sites (ICOMOS) international protection centre (IICC) was formally established here.
