Night view-North Square of Big Wild Goose Pagoda
by jasmine_ding about Fountain show and cultural square
The fountain is the biggest one in Asia, it's the mixed combination of colorful light and vivaciousis musical fountains. It is a good place to visit, especially in night. The show opens at 8:30 pm, and ends at 8:45. But I'm not sure if it changes with the season, so before you go there please know about the exact time.
In addition, there are many sculptures on the square, and gardens. If you walk about to south, west and east, you will find many interesting things with rich Chinese culture and folk tradition. There is always a historic story behind the sculpture. It's definitely a must-see night view.
The Shaanxi History Museum
by mikelisaanna
The Shaanxi History Museum is one of the two must-see sights in Xi'an (the other being the Terra Cotta Warriors). It is a modern museum that was built to house relics from the area's history, focusing on the area's prehistory and the the various dynasties up through the Tang Dynasty, when Xi'an, then called Changan, was the capital of China and one of the world's largest and most powerful cities. The exhibits features pottery, bronze pieces, coins, and sculptures from the varios periods arranged in dynastic order. Additional information about each of the time periods is provided by short films as you enter each area.
One thing that you must know before visiting the museum is that they limit the number of visitors each day, so people line up before it opens to get a ticket. We got there at 10AM and the line was down the block. Fortunately for us, there was a separate and much shorter line for senior citizens, disabled persons and families with children, so Anna (our 7-year old) saved the day (and about 2 hours). One other quirk about the museum's ticket system is that foreigners must show their passports to get a ticket (1 ticket per passport). We heard that they sometimes make exceptions to the ticket limit for tourists that can show an airline ticket proving that they are flying out that day and won't get another chance to see the museum, but we can't verify it.
Emperor's Hot Tub
by CLIFFORDK
Huaqing Pool, or Huaqing Hot Springs (also sometimes called Huaqing Palace), is an ancient hot springs used by many emperors of China to relax and get away from the pressures of public life. The history of Huaqing Pool actually goes back about 3,000 years, but it is still used today as a hot springs and spa. It's a fascinating place for a number of reasons. First of all, it's very scenic. It's located at the base of Lishan Mountain, which gives it an even more serene and relaxing feeling. Huaqing Pool is actually a complex of several buildings, pavilions, pools and gardens. The main pool of the complex, Nine-Dragon Pool, is quite large and is surrounded by several interesting buildings and pavilions, including the bedroom of the emperor Xuan Zong, and the Marble Dragon Boat, which really is made of marble and has two dragon heads at one end. In one end of the pool is a statue of Yang Guifei, emperor Xuanzong's favorite concubine and reportedly one of the most beautiful women in ancient China. (The story of Xuan Zong and Yang Guifei is really interesting, and is one of the most well-known stories in Chinese history.) The architecture in the complex is not only interesting, but also quite varied. Most of the buildings have a distinctive imperial look, but there are a few which were built later to enclose the emperors' and concubines' pools, and they have a more modern look to them. The pools the ancient emperors and their concubines and other officials used are no longer filled with water, but they are still intact and look a lot like they did when they were in full use. The garden area, located partly on a hillside, is beautiful, and there are walkways which wind through the garden, with several pavilions along the paths where the emperors and their family members and concubines could go to relax or play games. The paths and pavilions provide a nice view of the garden and pool area. The Hovering Rainbow Bridge spans a small creek and is the link between the pool complex proper and the garden area. Huaqing Pool was also the site of the famous Xian incident of 1936, when Chiang Kai-shek was captured (he was in hiding and had his temporary headquarters there) by his own generals in order to convince him to stop fighting the Communists and start fighting the invading Japanese. You can still see the house on the mountain in which he took refuge before his capture. And the rooms he used (called Five-Room Hall) as his headquarters still have the original furniture in them, which I found to be really fascinating. I thought Huaqing Pool was a fascinating place, and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Xian.
The Shanxi History Museum
by Paul2001
The Shanxi History Museum is one of the most important and best presented museums in China. For those who are well traveled in China, this might not be saying that much. China is not a great country for quality museums. Warehouses full of pots and only competently displayed. The Shanxi History Museum is well lit and superbly displayed. It also has a rich collection of artifacts. Shanxi is in many ways the cradle of Chinese civilization so rightly a museum depicting the province importance should be well worth visiting.
The exhibits are displayed chronologically stretching backing to pre-history into the Shang Dynasty. There are many exhibits of bronze weaponry which date from Zhou and Qin Dynasties.of Qin Shi Huang. There are also some of the Terracotta Warriors here and a fine chariot and horses also found from the nearby tomb As China progressed into the Tang Dynasty, artisitic concerns became more important and here we see many beautifull carvings and frescos dating from this area.
The museum has some annoying features. One is the very aggressive sales people attempting to get you to go into their souvenior shops to see real "Chinese art". Another is all the English students hanging out in the lobby attempt to speak English to you and to fill out their forms. This tends to get tiresome after a while.
The admission into the Shanxi History Museum is Y35.
Great Mosque - Minaret
by Willettsworld
The minaret is actually called the Introspection Tower and is used for calling Muslims to pray. Unlike most mosques in Middle Eastern or Arab countries, the Great Mosque doesn't feature traditional-style tall minarets but instead has this single two-storey, octagonal tower.
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Inside Kai Yuan Mall
Warriors and their horses
Xi'an - China
Xi'an - China
