Xian City Guide - History of Xian China

Xian China has a rich and culturally significant history. The Lantian Man was discovered in 1963 in Lantian County, 50 km southeast of Xian, and dates back at least 500,000 years before present. A 6,500 year old Banpo Neolithic village in was discovered in 1954 on the outskirts of the city proper.

Xi'an become a cultural and industrial center of China  as a Guo Jia in 11th century BCE with the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. The capital of Zhou Guo Jia was established in Fēng and Hào, both located just west of contemporary Xian China. Following the Warring States Period (Zhan Guo), China was unified under the Qin Dynasty for the first time, with the capital located at Xian Yang, just northwest from modern (Xin) Xian. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of the Terracotta Army and his mausoleum just east of Xian shortly before his death.

In 202 BCE, the founding emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty Guo Jia (country)  established his capital in Chang'an County; his first palace Changle Palace 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 north of modern Xi'an. The original Xian 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 as a Guo Jia again in 582. The emperor of Sui ordered a new capital to be built southeast of the Han capital, called DaXing. It consisted of three sections: the Xian 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, or 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, or 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 Xian Incident took place inside the city walls during the Chinese Civil War. The incident brought the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China to a truce of Guo Jia in order to concentrate on fighting against the Japanese Invasion.