Today’s blog is about our trip to Xi’an that we took early April. It was about 3 hours by direct flight from Shenyang to Xi’an. After we arrived in Xi’an, our local tour guide took us around to different places.

The guide said that “people should visit Xi’an if they want to know about 3000 years of history!”

Xi’an was the eastern starting point of the Silk Road. Xi’an is a city that has a wide variety of ethnic groups and food cultures that intertwine.

Photo credit: Archaeologists Uncover Another Branch of the Silk Road

Here are the places that we visited during our trip.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayanta), Xi’an Bell Tower, Xi’an City Wall, The Museum of Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses, Xi’an Museum, Huaqing Palace. I also posted about food that we tried in Xi’an on my previous blog.

We were in Xi’an for 4 days and 3 nights but of course, it was impossible to learn about 3000 years of history in such a short period of time. I wish we could stay longer.

Xi’an has a deep and wide history… everything about Xi’an is very interesting, I would like to learn everything but there’s so much…

I cannot find the right word, but I felt so special and honored to be there with my family, where Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty came to learn about advanced Chinese literature and culture in the 7th – 9th centuries AD. They brought back sugar to Japan for the first time.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

This pagoda was built in 652 to hold sutras and figurines of Gautama Buddha that were brought to China from India in the 7th century by Buddhist monks and travelers.

We got some incense and prayed for our family. I was a little bit scared about droping my daughter by accident…!

The building behind us is Xi’an Bell Tower, which was built in 1384 during the early Ming Dynasty. It used to be a bell clock to tell people the time. I wish I could hear the bell sounds.

When we were walking around town, people often asked to take pictures with my husband and children. Maybe it’s because they look a little different from everyone else, and I think they were also simply curious. I was the same when I was a kid. I was just wondering about people who are living outside of Japan, what their life would look like, what kind of food they eat, etc. There are a lot of differences between China and Japan. I like to think about why we are so different but there are many things that we share. There is no answer that I have found, but I guess I don’t need the answer.

She said this looked like a snake turtle and why he was stuck between the wall.

Wishing for happiness! The local staff told us to only hit this bell 3 times. I was nervous that my kids might accidentally hit the gong 4 times…

Xi’an City Wall

This wall has a circumference of about 14km in Xi’an city. The wall took about 10 years to be built and it protected the city from invaders during the Ming Dynasty.

This is the top of the city wall, where you can actually rent and ride a bicycle around the 14km wall. We were planning to ride the bicycles but they were too big for my children, so we ended up just walking around and we also took some funny pictures.

The buildings on the city wall had very unique roofs and I wondered what these figures placed on the edge were for.

The Museum of Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses

I learned about the terracotta warriors in history class as a student in Japan. Each statue was made one by one and every statue has a different face.

The statues were paintde when they were found but the colors disappeared after being in the sunlight for a long time.

My daugher was listening to the tour guide’s explanation about the statues.

The statues were buried for over 2000 years until they were found. I was over the moon that we could take our family pictures with them.

Can you see…? In the picture above, there were so many people at this museum. It was so crowded and it even felt dangerous being in this place. I would suggest not bringing a baby stroller. It would be better to carry your baby or hold their hand tight and walk together.

There were also broken statues… I felt sad seeing these warriors because these were also made by someone a long time ago.

Xi’an Museum

The museum has historical artcrafts from the Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang, and Qing dynasties.

A man resting on a camel on the Silk Road.

Map of the Silk Road

Women during the Tang Dynasty had very unique hair style.

This is a city plan of Heijo-kyo city in Japan (Nara city, 710-784)

My daughter said “They look like sumo wrestlers!”

We went to watch a play about the empress Wo Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history.

My daughter was very interested in the show’s story, and she asked if the princess would become the leader of this country. She wanted to come and watch this play again the next day, but unfortunately, we didn’t have time… I’ve heard that there is a manga about Emperor Wo Zetian. If there is an English or Japanese version of it, I would love to read it!

My daughters were so excited to take pictures with the actors after the show.

I was excited too, hehe, seeing the flower-shaped hair accesories on the actors.

Tang Paradise

This is a large theme park that recreates the imperial garden of the Tang Dynasty. We came here after dinner. This place is huge, it might take you about 2 hours or more to see everything they have.

She was jumping and wanted me to take a picture.

I wrote about this Xi’an special sweet on my previous blog, if you are interested, please click here.

I was asking about the sweets to the tour guide, haha My husband took this picture.

I learned about it after we returned home, but there was an exhibit at the Xi’an Museum about traditional sweets from the Tang dynasty. I didn’t know that there was such an important exhibit when we visited… My friend sent this picture to me. Thank you! I wish I could visit Xi’an again…

Thank you for reading my blog!