[8] The city was one of the terminal points on the Silk Road during the ancient and medieval eras, as well as the home of the 3rd-century BC Terracotta Army commissioned by Emperor Qin Shi Huang—both of which are listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

[9] Since the 1980s, as part of the economic growth of inland China especially for the central and northwest regions, Xi'an has matured into a cultural, industrial, political and educational, and research and development hub.

The name was later romanized as "Hsi-an" by Wade & Giles and as "Sianfu"[18] or "Sian"[9] by the imperial post office, both of which were common until the promulgation of pinyin.

[9] Under the Mongolian Yuan dynasty (13th & 14th centuries), it held a succession of names: Fengyuan (奉元), Anxi (安西, "Peaceful West") and Jingzhao (京兆).

The capital of Zhou was established in the twin settlements of Fengjing (灃京) and Haojing (鎬京), together known as Fenghao, located southwest of contemporary Xi'an.

[26][27] Following the Warring States period, China was unified under the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) for the first time, with the capital located at Xianyang, just northwest of modern Xi'an.

[28] The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of the Terracotta Army and his mausoleum just to the east of Xi'an almost immediately after his ascension to the throne.

[31] In the mid-7th century, after returning from his pilgrimage to India, the Buddhist monk Xuanzang established a translation school for Sanskrit scriptures.

This pagoda measured 45 m (147.64 ft) tall at the time of completion, and was built to store the translations of Buddhist sutras by Yijing.

[33] It is a 279 cm tall limestone block with text in both Chinese and Syriac describing the existence of Christian communities in several cities in northern China.

In the era of the Song dynasty, Xi'an was an important cultural center of scholarship and innovation on matters such as science,[35] as well as historiography, religion,[36] and philosophy in China.

The Qing dynasty established a walled off Manchu banner quarter in northeast Xi'an, on the site of the former palace of the Ming Prince of Qin.

Governor Yue Rui of Shandong was then ordered by the Yongzheng to report any bannerman misbehaving and warned him not to cover it up in 1730, after Manchu bannermen were put in a quarter in Qingzhou.

The incident helped to bring the Kuomintang (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party to form the Second United Front in order to concentrate on fighting against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War.

[56] While repeatedly attacked by air, Shaanxi was heavily fortified by units of the Eighth Route Army; Xi'an was never taken by the Japanese forces.

The city borders the northern foot of the Qin Mountains (Qinling) to the south, and the banks of the Wei River to the north.

[77] The Xi'an metropolitan area was estimated by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) to have, as of 2010[update], a population of 12.9 million,[78] of which 5,740,000 is urban.

In many commercial, residential, educational zones in the city, especially in the shopping and entertainment districts around the Bell Tower, underpasses and overpasses have been built for the safety and convenience of pedestrians.

[96] As of May 2012, Xi'an North Station is served only by the fast (G-series and D-series) trains running on the Zhengzhou–Xi'an high-speed railway; one of them continues south to Hankou.

One incident, however, is in 1994, when China Northwest Airlines flight 2303 broke up in mid-air and crashed near Xi'an en route to Guangzhou.

The story is based on the life of the famous Chinese historical figure Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang dynasty.

Through live performances by a classical Chinese orchestra and state-of-the-art stage design, this show will take you back to the glory of the legendary Empress Wu Zetian and the Great Tang Empire.

[121] As a result of the importance of the software-outsourcing industry, the city planned construction of a Software New Town, which is scheduled to be completed in 2015 with 30 billion RMB investment.

[126] The Xi'an International Trade and Logistics Park covers about thirty-five square miles and was conceived of as model for logistics-based urbanization.

[131] Xi'an is described as having" large pool of cheap human resources from the 100 universities in the area, it hoovers up around 3,000 computer graduates every year, each earning approximately $120 a month—half the wages for the equivalent job in Beijing.

From its establishment, the base has focused on the development of the civil space industry, including equipment manufacturing, software and service outsourcing, new materials and solar photovoltaics.

The State Development and Reform Commission approved the planning of Xi'an National Civil Aerospace Industrial Base on December 26, 2007.

[138] Because of the city's many historical monuments and a plethora of ancient ruins and tombs in the vicinity,[9] tourism has been an important component of the local economy, and the Xi'an region is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China.

[9] The city has many important historical sites, and some are ongoing archaeological projects, such as the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and his Terracotta Army.

5The claimed province of Taiwan no longer have any internal division announced by Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC, due to lack of actual jurisdiction.