Xi'an is now an important city in northwest China. It is located on the loess plain near the Wei River. At one time it was probably the richest, most populous city in the world. It was located at the eastern end of the Silk Road and was the capital of some the early empires of China.

Names

The name Xi'an means western peace. It is spelled in a variety of ways. Xi'an is the spelling in the Pinyin system of China. Hsi-an is the spelling in the Wade-Giles system still used in Taiwan. Sian is the western literary spelling. They are all properly pronounced the same way: shee anh.

Xi'an has been known by other names. In the days of the Qin (Chin) Empire and the early Han Empire (c. 200 BCE) it was the imperial capital and known as Ch'ang An, meaning everlasting peace. More fully it was Ch'ang-an-ch'eng meaning walled city of everlasting peace. The first emperor, Shih Huang-ti, built his tomb with the six thousand terracotta warriors about 20 miles from the city.

The peace of Ch'ang-an did not last forever. It was destroyed in the early years of the Common Era (c. 20 CE) and the restored Han Empire moved its capital to Lo-yang. Ch'ang-an was again made the capital in the 6th century during the Sui Empire and later the T'ang Empire.

Under the T'ang emperors the city was redeveloped creating a palace city for the royal family, an imperial city for the empire officials and an outer city for the merchants and artisans of Xi'an. The T'ang Empire fell in 906 CE and Ch'ang-an was no longer the capital. It however remained an important trading city still serving as the eastern terminus of the Silk Road.

Ch'ang-an was a prosperous trading center still in the days of Marco Polo in the 13th century. In those days it was known as Xi'an (western peace) and that became its official title during the Ming Empire. However later that was changed to Xijing (western capital. In 1943 the name was changed back to Xi'an.

Early History

The site is at the confluence of several rivers. The combined stream is called the Wei River. The other major tributaries besides the upstream Wei are the Ba, the JIng and the Chan. Around 5000 BCE there was a town of about 600 located at the confluence of the Chan and Ba Rivers. It has been excavated and the artifacts are displayed in the Banpo Museum about 10 miles east of Xi'an's present center.

Around 300 BCE the capital of the Qin kingdom was located near the confluence of the Wei and Ba Rivers. In the time known as the Warring States Period the separate kingdoms were vying for dominance. The likely victor was thought to be one of the seven major kingdoms. Qin was not one of those seven but it was the one that conquered all of them and established the Qin (Chin) Empire that included most of modern China. The victorious emperor, Shih Huang-ti, began building things after he defeated the other kingdoms. One of his building projects was the Great Wall. Another was his tomb that is situated 20 miles northeast of Xi'an. He also created a bureaucracy to rule his empire and counter the power of the feudal lords. The Qin Empire did not last beyond his grandson. The Han kingdom to the east of Qin emerged as the victor in the power struggle than ensued. The Han decided to make Xi'an their capital and to maintain the ruling imperial bureaucracy. The Han made their selection of bureaucrats on the basis of a test of scholarly attainment. The institution of scholar bureaucrats, called mandarins, lasted for two thousand years through the rise and fall of dynasties and foreign conquest.

(To be continued.)