Xi'an

Xi'an is the atonal pinyin romanization of its Chinese name 西安, Western Peace. (The apostrophe – known in Chinese as a 隔音符號, géyīn fúhào – should be included to distinguish its pronunciation from the single syllable xian.) The name was adopted in 1369 under the early Ming dynasty. Jesuit missionaries recorded its name as Si-ngan or Si-ngan-fou from its status as the seat of a prefecture (府, fǔ). This form still appears in the Latin name of the Catholic diocese of Xi'an, archidioecesis Singanensis. The name was later romanized as Hsi-an by Wade & Giles and as Sianfu or Sian by the imperial post office, both of which were common until the promulgation of pinyin. The area of present-day Xi'an has been the site of several important former Chinese cities. …

The Lantian Man was discovered in 1963 in Lantian County, 50 km (31 mi) southeast of Xi'an, and dates back to at least 500,000 years before the present time. A 6,500-year-old Neolithic village, Banpo, was discovered in 1953 on the eastern outskirts of the city proper, which contains the remains of several well organized Neolithic settlements carbon dated to 5,600–6,700 years ago. The site is now home to the Xi'an Banpo Museum, built in 1957 to preserve the archaeological collection. Xi'an became a cultural and political center of China in the 11th century BC with the founding of the Zhou dynasty. The capital of Zhou was established in the twin settlements of Fengjing (灃京) and Haojing (鎬京), together known as Fenghao, located southwest of contemporary Xi'an. The settlement was also known as Zōngzhōu (宗周) to indicate its role as the capital of the vassal states. …

Xi'an lies on the Guanzhong Plain in the south-central part of Shaanxi province, on a flood plain created by the eight surrounding rivers and streams. The city borders the northern foot of the Qin Mountains (Qinling) to the south, and the banks of the Wei River to the north. Hua Shan, one of the five sacred Taoist mountains, is located 100 km (62 mi) away to the east of the city. Not far to the north is the Loess Plateau. At the beginning of Han dynasty, the Chief of Staff Zhang Liang advised the emperor Liu Bang to choose Guanzhong as the capital of the Han dynasty: "Guanzhong Plain is located behind Mount Xiao and Hangu Pass, and connects Long (Gansu) and Shu (Sichuan). The area can be called an iron castle spreads for thousands of miles, and is rich in harvest like the nation of heaven." (关中左崤函，右陇蜀，沃野千里，此所谓金城千里，天府之国也) Since then, Guanzhong is also known as the 'Nation of the Heaven'. …

Xi'an is home to contemporary Chinese stars such as Xu Wei, Zhang Chu and Zheng Jun. Yangrou paomo (flat bread soaked in lamb soup; simplified Chinese: 羊肉泡馍; traditional Chinese: 羊肉泡饃; pinyin: Yángròu pàomó) is a well known Xi'anese dish. Liang pi (cold rice noodles; simplified Chinese: 凉皮; traditional Chinese: 涼皮; pinyin: liángpí) are wheat or rice noodles served cold with vinegar and chili oil. Biangbiang mian, also known as youpo chemian (simplified Chinese: 油泼扯面; traditional Chinese: 油潑扯麵; pinyin: Yóupō chěmiàn), are thick and long hand-pulled noodles, typically served with red hot pepper. Roujiamo (meat buns; simplified Chinese: 肉夾馍; traditional Chinese: 肉夾饃; pinyin: Ròujiāmó) is a bun filled with pork. Qinqiang (Voice of Qin) is the oldest and most extensive of the four major types of Chinese opera. …

As part of the China Western Development policy, Xi'an became a major target for accelerated attention, particularly in information technology, advanced materials, aerospace, energy, and chemical engineering. From 1997 to 2006, the industrial output value of Xi'an's service industry increased at an annual average rate of 13 percent, compared to traditional service industries of 0.74 percent, representing a growth from US$8.113 billion to US$25.85 billion. In 2020, Xi'an was ranked as a Beta- (global second tier) city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Xi'an was ranked in 2020 as one of the world's top 100 financial centers, according to the Global Financial Centres Index. Important industries include equipment manufacturing, tourism, and service outsourcing. The manufacturing industry had an annual output of RMB 36.5 billion, accounting for 44. …

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. …