Walk Among Eight Thousand Soldiers in Stone
You descend into the pit and stand before ranks of life-sized warriors sculpted in terracotta—archers with their arms positioned to draw bows, infantry in formation, officers with their hands clasped. Each face is distinct. Each robe bears the creases of real fabric. The Terracotta Army, buried for more than two millennia and then unearthed, lets you walk through the actual tomb complex of China's first emperor, commissioned in the 3rd century BC. This is not a replica or a reconstruction. You are seeing an archaeological site that fundamentally changed how the world understands ancient craftsmanship and state power.
- Stand in Pit 1, where the largest formations are displayed, or explore the smaller pits where archaeologists are still uncovering soldiers and horses
- Visit the museum galleries to examine individual warriors and weapons up close
- The site functions as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and demands several hours to absorb properly
Sacred Towers and Buddhist Translations
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda rises 64 metres from its Tang-dynasty foundation, built in 652 to house the Sanskrit translations brought back by the monk Xuanzang from India. Across the city, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda—damaged by the 1556 earthquake and now 43.4 metres tall—stands as a second monument to the same Buddhist scholarly work. These are not merely structures; they are physical records of the moment when Xi'an became a hub for translating and preserving Indian Buddhist thought into Chinese, making the city a crucial waypoint for ideas moving along the Silk Road.
- The pagodas remain active sites of religious significance and architectural study
- Both offer views across the city if you climb their internal staircases
Stone Tablets, Scripts, and the First Christians in China
Inside the Beilin Museum, housed just inside the south city wall near Wenchang Gate, you encounter roughly 4,000 inscribed stone tablets. Among them sits the Nestorian Stele, a limestone block erected in 781 that documents 150 years of early Christian communities across northern China—written in both Chinese and Syriac script. Walk through rooms where tablets record rulers' triumphs, family genealogies, poetry, and instructions for rebuilding schools. The collection spans scripture to practical affairs, offering a tangible window into how educated people in Tang and earlier China recorded what mattered to them.
- The Nestorian Stele (Showroom 2) reveals the surprising history of Christianity's early presence in China
- Open March–November 08:00–18:30, December–February 08:00–18:00; entry ¥60 March–November, ¥50 December–February
The City Wall, the Bell Tower, and the Centre of Ancient Chang'an
Stand at the intersection of East Avenue and South Avenue, where the Bell Tower occupies a traffic island at the dead centre of the city. This is the heart of the old imperial capital. The tower's ancient bells once marked time for the entire city; short musical performances play every hour. A ten-minute walk west brings you to the Drum Tower, which served the same timekeeping function. Both towers are remnants of the Ming dynasty's rebuilding (starting 1370), though the city beneath them has been an urban centre for millennia. You can walk sections of the Ming city wall itself—11.9 kilometres in circumference, 12 metres high, still intact—to trace the boundary of imperial Xi'an.
- Bell Tower: ¥30, or ¥50 combined ticket with Drum Tower; high season (April 1–October 10) 08:30–21:30, low season 08:30–18:00
- Drum Tower: same ticket prices and hours, located at 1 West Avenue in the Muslim Quarter
- The wall offers walking paths and views of both the old city and modern expansion beyond
Tombs, Neolithic Settlements, and the Long Archaeology of Humans in the Yellow River Valley
Xi'an sits at the centre of one of humanity's oldest inhabited regions. The Lantian Man, discovered in 1963 some 50 kilometres southeast in Lantian County, dates back at least 500,000 years. Far more recent but equally vivid is Banpo, a 6,500-year-old Neolithic village on the eastern outskirts of the city proper. The Xi'an Banpo Museum, built in 1957, preserves pottery and remains from settlements carbon-dated to 5,600–6,700 years ago. The Shaanxi History Museum holds fabulously well-preserved pottery from Banpo alongside Shang Dynasty bronzes and Tang Dynasty objects used by the royal family, tracing the province's history from the Neolithic through the Qing dynasty. Daming Palace National Heritage Park preserves the site of a vast Tang palace complex from 634 AD—now a park with green spaces, an enormous ceremonial gate, and a scale model of the palace itself.
- Shaanxi History Museum: free entry to main halls, additional ¥30 for Tang treasures exhibition, ¥270 for Tang mural paintings; book in advance via WeChat; November 15–March 14 opens at 09:00, March 15–November 14 opens at 08:30; closed Mondays
- Daming Palace National Heritage Park: free access to grounds and gate; April 15–October 15 opens 08:30–19:00, October 16–March 14 opens 08:30–18:00
- Xi'an Banpo Museum: housed in a 1957-built facility preserving Neolithic artefacts and settlement structures
Art Collections Across the City
For a less crowded alternative to the archaeological museums, visit the Shaanxi Province Art Museum (14 Chang'an North Road, Beilin District), one of the largest art museums in western China, or the smaller Shaanxi Art Museum (587 East Avenue, Xincheng District), which focuses on paintings and calligraphy. Both are free. The Xi'an Art Museum, located in the Great Tang All Day Mall in the Qujiang New District, displays works from Chinese and foreign artists and stays open until 22:00, making it accessible in the evening.
- Shaanxi Province Art Museum: free, 09:00–17:00, closed Mondays
- Xi'an Art Museum: free, 10:00–22:00, closed Mondays
Xi'an offers you a continuous thread from half a million years of human habitation through Neolithic villages, imperial capitals, Buddhist scholarship, and Christian missionary contact. Start with the Terracotta Army if you want to witness the ambition of the Qin dynasty made tangible, then move into the city's museums and pagodas to understand how Xi'an—ancient Chang'an—shaped Chinese intellectual life. The city wall and the towers at its centre ground you in the scale and geography of an imperial metropolis. Plan for at least three days to move unhurried through the major sites and feel the weight of time layered across this landscape.