The ancient, historic, polutted city of Xi'an from the top of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda - of which I climbed all seven storeys to everyone's surprise.

(Under construction)

The historical city of Xi'an was once called Chang'an in ancient times and now is the capital of Shaanxi Province. It is situated in the centre of Weihe Plain. Xi'an has a long history of human occupation. It served as a capital for for twelve dynasties including Western Zhou, Qin, Western Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties, spanning over 1120. It became the oriental cultural center of the Silk Road.

Subsequent dynasties made the city beautiful and magnificent. More than 270 palaces and temples were built in the Qin Dynasty alone. Perhaps Xi'an's golden age ended when the capital was moved elsewhere, to rise again when hundreds of buried life-sized terracotta figures were discovered by villagers looking for water in 1974.

This is Liao yun run (Angel) who was my guide for the Xi'an adventure. She did a brilliant job! We had met on my first visit to China in 2002 when she was 18 and working in my hotel. Hotel management told her and her friend Kang Meixin (my future wife) to learn English so she could take me sightseeing. We have been friends ever since and she became a professional tour guide.

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Angel (Liaoyun) shares a latt¨¦ with her pet Long Nose in the airport cafe.

Xi'an is a city of 8 million but history and tourism dominate official thinking, to the detriment of the atmosphere which coats everything in a fine grey powder. It's a shopping centre of course - a new monument to the new Chinese religion of Commerce. It reminded me of a huge Transformer toy. Free traditional music performance in the Drum Tower.
There must be huge numbers of foreigners in China but they are swamped by locals. It's only at the tourist traps they become visible. Beijing can be hot and dry but here the bamboo is as thick as a forest. Would there were pandas out there too. Reconstruction of the traditional drums.
Exhibition of traditional instruments in the Drum Tower Historic furniture furniture exhibition. Part of the furniture exhibition (see left).
A coffee shop owned by a brand of European chocolates. The coffee was okay, so were the cakes. Angel pumps a local for tourist information. Thermal power in Xi'an. Before the Olympics China had 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities. By 2010 she had replaced 25 of these smokestacks with solar panel arrays to lead the world in solar power. Xi'an is one of the few chinese cities to still have remnants of it's ancient city wall - the most intact in China.
Peak hour in Xi'an, but we found a taxi! - and a real one (not a converted motorbike). Taxis are like gold in Xi'an because the drivers are so poorly paid

A free public water display, with synchronised recorded music, is about to start within sight of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Clearly Xi'an sin't short of water.

Loud piped music and a complex, well designed water display was upstaged by one modern miss who clearly enjoyed the attention.
Public culture sculpture, typical of Chinese cities, may not be great are but loved as an excuse to photograph a friend or relative. An elaborate promotion, with choreography, near the market (see right). This market was right outside the walls of the Grand Mosque. This lady clearly did not like being photographed (it is wise to ask).
     
     
    Such realist public art, beloved of tourists, abounds in Chinese cities. What would these traditional ladies have to say to a modern Angel?
A model of the Wild Goose Pagoda - inside the Wild Goose Pagoda      
      A watchtower on Xi'an's city wall. The locals say all the old people live outside the wall.

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