(EN) Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi province, located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Guanzhong Plain.One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 6,000 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming dynasty.Xi'an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, having held the position under several of the most important dynasties in Chinese history,including Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang.[Xi'an is the starting point of the Silk Road and home to the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.[1] Since the 1990s, as part of the economic revival of interior China especially for the central and northwest regions, the city of Xi'an has re-emerged as an important cultural, industrial and educational centre of the central-northwest region, with facilities for research and development, national security and China's space exploration program. Xi'an currently holds sub-provincial status, administerring 9 districts and 4 counties.[ According to the 2010 Census, nine urbanized districts of Xi'an has a population of 6,501,189, while the total population of the Municipality is up to 8,467,837.[It is the most populous city in Northwest China, as well as one of the three most populous cities in Western China.[According to a July 2012 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it was recently named as one of the 13 emerging megacities, or megalopolises, in China.[ The report pinpoints and highlights the demographic and income trends that are shaping these cities' development. The Terracotta Army or the "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits nearby Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. Other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi%27an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army VALPARDhttp://valpardfilms.awardspace.com/ Map for China: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zB1TUeC1rIPg.k41cHxqmip3I

• published: 21 Sep 2014
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