{"id":2094,"date":"2011-10-18T10:30:20","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T14:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=2094"},"modified":"2011-10-18T14:33:43","modified_gmt":"2011-10-18T18:33:43","slug":"xi%e2%80%99an","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/xi%e2%80%99an\/","title":{"rendered":"Xi\u2019an (\u897f\u5b89)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> \u897f\u5b89 (x\u012b<\/a> \u0101n<\/a>) is a one of China’s oldest cities and has been a cultural and historical landmark throughout China’s history. At various times, this walled city of Shanxi Province or \u9655<\/a>\u897f<\/a> (<\/em>Sh\u01cenx\u012b) functioned as the capital city of China, and the home of the first imperial families.<\/p>\n

For millennium all roads have led to and through Xi’an, the most prominent of which being the Silk Road, which terminates just inside the massive walled city. For travelers completing their daunting journey across the Gobi desert, Xi’an stood as a beacon of civilization, rewarding their trek with unimaginable silks, spices, goods, and technologies.<\/p>\n

\u897f\u5b89 (x\u012b<\/a> \u0101n<\/a>)\u00a0translates as “western peace”–a fitting name for a western capital. But prior to being called Xi’an the massive walled city was called Chang’an or \u957f\u5b89\u00a0 (Ch\u00e1ng<\/a> \u0101n<\/a>) which means “perpetual peace”. However, years of clan fighting and warlord campaigns throughout the area made the concept of “perpetual peace” seem ill-fitting so the name changed over the years. Yet as Xi’an became more involved in the Silk Road and trade, its moniker as a pathway to the west soon became common place first calling it \u5b89\u897f but then reversing the order to \u897f\u5b89 for whatever reason. Maybe because the name sounded so similar to a Buddhist concept of the afterlife known as the “western paradise”. Go figure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When you think Xi’an you usually think Terra Cotta Warriors or \u5175\u9a6c\u4fd1<\/a> (b\u012bngm\u01cey\u01d2ng). These life-like, clay figures of Chinese warriors were created in the first imperial dynasty of China, the Qin or \u79e6\u671d (Q\u00edn<\/a> ch\u00e1o<\/a>). During that time, a crazy or “misunderstood”\u00a0 first emperor named Qin Shi Huang (\u79e6\u59cb\u7687), literally translating as”first emperor”, decided that he needed an army of thousands of life sized and intricately carved clay soldiers, horses and warriors to be buried with him as protection to help fight his enemies in the afterlife.<\/p>\n

Paranoid much? Suffice it to say, he wasn’t a very well liked emperor, and his tomb, along with his standing army of clay men, were ransacked, buried and forgotten until 1974.<\/p>\n

For more, check out this National Geographic piece on the Terra Cotta Warriors:<\/p>\n