Xi'An: Cultural Center

In addition to being an ancient capital, Xi'An also has a long history of being a place of cultural exchange. It was the eastern end of the silk road, sending silk and other items westward, while receiving goods and other influences from the west.

Of particular interest, it received more outside religious influence. It became a center of Buddhist learning starting in the 5th century or so, but other religions also made their marks: Nestorianism (635 AD), Zoroastrianism (670s, when the Sassanian prince Firuz fled to China), Manichaeism (694) and Islam (sometime in the early 7th century, but truly flourishing during the Ming Dynasty). There is a pagoda outside of Xi'An that is purported to have originally been a Nestorian church and within the ancient city of Xi'An itself is the Great Mosque, the oldest Mosque in China (first built in 742, although the current structure is mostly from the Ming Dynasty).*

Unfortunately I didn't get to visit all these places, but I did see the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (大雁塔) The pagoda was originally built with five stories in 652 during the Tang Dynasty, then rebuilt in 704 after it collapsed with five extra stories. In 1556 a large earthquake shook Shaanxi (it was the deadliest earthquake on record with an estimated death toll of 830,000) and damaged the pagoda such that it was reduced by three stories, resulting in the modern seven-story structure. When the famous Xuanzang returned from India, he brought back texts that were housed in the pagoda and eventually translated into Chinese.

Behind the pagoda compound is a large fountain area. During the evenings crowds gather to watch elaborate fountain displays coordinated with music.

In addition to its rich history, I had heard many tales of the specialty foods of Xi'An and had a chance to try several of them: the Chinese hamburger-equivalent--although usually with pork, not beef--called roujiamo (肉夹馍), a type of handmade broad noodle called biangbiangmian (biang being famous for being one of the most complex modern Chinese characters, with 58 strokes!), and a lamb soup with bread crumbled into it called yangrou paomo (羊肉泡馍).

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*Dates taken from the UNESCO website.