Xi'an

Why Xi'an works

Xi'an was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and capital to more dynasties than any other Chinese city, and it wears that history visibly. The Terracotta Army, discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974, remains the city's reason for being on every itinerary: three excavated pits hold thousands of life-sized clay soldiers, horses and chariots, each face individually modelled, arranged exactly as Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb guard 2,200 years ago. The site's scale only registers standing inside Pit 1's aircraft-hangar structure, rows of warriors receding into the unexcavated dark. Back in the city, the 14th-century Ming city wall — wide enough to cycle its full 13.7-kilometre loop — still rings the old town, and the Muslim Quarter behind the Great Mosque serves some of China's best street food: yang rou pao mo (lamb and flatbread soup), biang biang noodles, and persimmon cakes sold from the same stalls for generations. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built to house sutras the monk Xuanzang carried back from a 17-year overland pilgrimage to India, adds a specifically Indian thread to the city's layered past. Xi'an rewards two full days — one for the Terracotta Army and Huaqing Palace outside the city, one for the walled centre and its food.

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