Xi'an - An Overview

 They say that if you want to experience the last 50 years of China, you should go to Shanghai.  If you want to experience the last 500 years you should go to Beijing.  And if you want to experience the last 5000 years, you should go to Xi'an.  Xi'an and its surroundings are rich with history.  It served as the capital for 13 of China's dynasties.  You can't plant a bulb in Xi'an without finding an archeological artifact.

They also say that China is shaped like a chicken.  If you look at the top photo, you might be able to see this. The borders of China do look a bit like a rooster leaning forward. Xi'an's location is marked by the tag "A".  It is where the chicken's heart should be.

I love playing with the Google Maps satellite view.  I feel like Francis Gary Powers flying a U2 over forbidden territories.  (And 50 years ago this would have been forbidden territory.)  The photo above shows the Xi'an city center, nestled inside the rectangle formed by the old city walls.  I'm a sucker for ancient city walls, as you may remember from here and here.  So for me, Xi'an is a real treat.  It has the best preserved city walls in China - the entire 7 miles or so are completely intact.  The original moat is also mostly intact....as you can see in the photo below.  They don't stock it with crocodiles these days, thankfully.

At the center of the old city were the bell tower and the drum tower.  The bell tower you can see below.  They've build a roundabout around it.  The drum tower is not too far away.  They built a shopping mall around it, complete with a Starbucks Coffee.  In a nutshell, that is China today....ancient history surrounded by new construction, highways, and shopping malls. 

As mentioned before, all the photos on this page are captured from Google Maps.  Go there and play around with their satellite view.  But don't reproduce these photos without giving Google the credit.