Xian

Xi'an or Sian , city (1994 est. pop. 2,114,900), capital of Shaanxi prov., China, in the Wei River valley. Situated on the Longhai RR, China's principal east-west line, it is an important commercial and tourism center in a wheat- and cotton-growing area. It has textile and steel mills, food-processing establishments, and plants making chemicals, cement, electrical machinery, and fertilizer.

Xianyang, one of several cities that have occupied this site, was (255-206 BC) the capital of the Ch'in dynasty. Excavations begun in 1974 some 20 mi (32 km) northeast of Xi'an at the tomb of Shih Huang-ti (emperor, 221-c.209 BC) uncovered an army of 6,000 life-size figures in battle formation. The 1990s brought the discovery nearby of some 800 royal tombs from the Han era, some containing hundreds of miniature clay soldiers, and the remains of sacrificial temples. The present city, then called Chang'an, was (202 BC-AD 25) the first capital of the Han dynasty and later the western capital of the T'ang dynasty (618-907), when it was a center of Buddhist, Muslim, and Nestorian Christian missionary activity. In the "Xi'an Incident" (1936), Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by Chang Hsüeh-liang and imprisoned until he agreed to form a united front against the Japanese. The site of the incident is now a lush hot-spring resort with memorial pavilions.

The city has numerous T'ang dynasty pagodas and is noted for its history museum, housed in an 11th-century Confucian temple containing large stone tablets from the T'ang dynasty; one (781) commemorates the establishment of a Nestorian church. The city wall, dating from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), is still visible in places. In Xi'an are botanical gardens and Northwest Polytechnical Univ., Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., and many other institutions of higher learning. The city has a major airport. The name sometimes appears as Hsi-an or Sian.

Xian (Sian, formerly Changan) Capital of Shaanxi province, at the confluence of the Wei and Huang He rivers, nw China. Inhabited since 6000 bc, from 255 to 206 bc it was the site of Xianyang, the capital of the Qin dynasty. The elaborate tomb of the dynastic founder, Emperor Qin Shihuangdi, is a world heritage site and major tourist attraction. Changan was the focus for the introduction of Buddhism to China, and in 652 the Big Wild Goose pagoda was built here. In the following centuries it became a major centre for other religious missionaries. The Great Mosque was built in 742. At the start of the 10th century, Changan was the world's largest city. Known as Xian since the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), extant monuments from this period include the 14th-century Drum and Bell towers. The Hua Qing curative hot springs were the site of the 1936 Xian Incident, when Chiang Kai-shek was held hostage until he agreed to a united Nationalist-Communist Chinese front against the Japanese. It is an important commercial centre of a grain-growing region. Industries: cotton, textiles, steel, chemicals. Pop. (1999) 2,294,970.

Xi᾽an, Shaanxi/China Fengjing, Haojing, Chang'an, Siking Chang'an, a huge and very ancient city close to the modern city, meant ‘Eternal Peace’ from cháng ‘long’ and ān ‘peace’ while the present name means ‘Western Peace’ from xī and ān. Having been renamed Xi'an in 1369, it became Siking before returning to Xi'an in 1943. It was the capital of China between 202 bc and ad 8 and during the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties; it was one of the greatest cities of the world during the Tang dynasty. Marco Polo referred to it as Quengianfu, a variation of the Persian Kinjanfu, in the 13th‐century account of his travels Description of the World.