Xi'an - Mount Lishan

Mount Lishan is on the north side of Mount Qinling and at its highest peak reaches 1256 meters above sea level.

The shape of the mountain is said to resemble a horse, hence the name which translates as "Black horse Mountain".

The mountain first became a popular retreat during the Tang Dynasty when the Emperors enjoyed climbing (or more likely being carried in their sedans!) up here and taking in the wonderful view, the Hot Springs and the various statues and pavilions en route.

On the east of the hill is also the spot where the Emperor Xuanzong and his concubine Lady Yang made solemn promises to love one another for ever!

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Xi'an - Lintong Museum

The Lintong Museum is just up the road from the Huaqing Springs. This is actually a more interesting site than the Springs and many travelers prefer to move swiftly from the springs to the museum.

This local museum displays a varied collection of over 10,00 relics, from the stone age up to the Qing dynasty housed in an attractive classical building with red pillars and winding corridors.

This was also the site of the Xian incident in 1936 when Chang Kaisheks own troops arrested him. Chang was made to sign an alliance with the Communists against the Japanese at a spot which is today marked by a small red pavilion near the museum.

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Xi'an - Shuilu Convert

The Shuilu Convert is situated at the foot of Wangshun Mountain, 10km east to Lantian County. The Convert itself looks very much like an island, with three rivers surrounding it and green hills behind. Hence the name Shuilu Convert.

The Convert was built after the model of the ordinary Buddhist temple. There are front gates, wing rooms, middle halls , grand halls, forming quadrangle compound. The repaired halls decorated with various trees and flowers , the Convert now looks fresh, quiet, elegant as well as solemn. The most attractive features of the grand hall are the colored clay reliefs on the wall, showing the life story of Sakyamuni. These exquisite masterpieces of the sculptures are culture and art treasures of our country.

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Xi'an - Du Gong Temple

Situated in the east of Weiqu Town of Chang’an County, 12km away from Xi’an, Du Gong Temple is a memorial temple of Tang famous poet Du Fu. During the reign of Tianbao to Qianyuan of Tang Dynasty, Du Fu lived in Chang’an and left lots of poems showing woes and hardships of the populace. In honor of him, people built the temple in the 5th year of Jiajing of Ming Dynasty. The temple has been enlarged into a monument.

The Temple is an example of typical Tang dynasty architecture and contains a huge stone statue of the great poet. The most precious historical relic here is an ink copy of a stele written by Dufu which is the only existing inscription by the poet in the world.

If you have a particular passion for Chinese arts or poetry then the Temple is an interesting place to visit. Today, the Temple is still an important site for practicing Buddhists.

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Xi'an - The Louguan Temple

Louguan Temple Is a famous Taoist shrine In China, and It Is revered as “the first land of the blessed under heaven”. The temple is situated on the hillside north of the Zhongnan Mountains, 15 kilometers southeast of Zhouzhi County and 70 kilometers apart from Xi’an City. Louguan Temple assumed its name as far back as the 11th century when Lao Zi visit there and write a book of Taoist doctrines” The Classic of the Way”. Besides, Lao zi built a high platform south of the tower for teaching the classic. It is Known as the Preaching Platform today.

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Xi'an - Lady Yang's Tomb

The Tomb of Concubine Yang is situated about 60 km to the west of Xi an. Yang Guefeis tomb is situated near to Xianyang city which was the capital of Chinas first dynasty.

Although many of the tombs and the Famen Temple are a long way out of Xian, it is worth visiting these places if you have time. It takes a long day to see all the sights along this route and its best to just pick a few of the more interesting tombs and Temples along the route and make the effort to see them properly.

Yang Guifei was the Emperor Tang Ming Huangs concubine who hung herself to save her lovers name and the empire. Yangs tomb is a popular spot with Chinese tourists and she is considered to be one of the most beautiful women ever to have lived. The story goes that when the Emperor took Yang into the gardens, beautiful flowers would shy away as they felt inferior in comparison to her beauty.

Until a few years ago, young Chinese girls would visit here on the third day of the third month in the lunar year, take some soil from around the tomb and mix it with flour. Popular belief holds that this "concubines powder" makes you beautiful if it is applied to the face. However, as the ground around the tomb began to disintegrate, authorities put a stop to this romantic practice by building a blue wall around the tomb! In the corridors surrounding the courtyard of the tomb, the work of numerous famous writers is displayed, depicting their views on this tragic love story.

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Xi'an - The chariot and Horse vault In the Western Zhou Dynasty

Early In the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Wen built a capital named Feng on the western bank of the Fenghe River. King Wu built a capital named Hao on the eastern bank of the Fenghe River. These were the first national capital of China and the first of the capitals discovered In the vicinity of Xi’an. This chariot and horse vault Is located to the east of Zhangjiapo. The vault is rectangular in shape, 5.6 meters long running north to south, 3.4 meters wide from east to west, and two meters deep. It is not as deep as a medium-sized burial tomb of that time. It contains two chariorts, six horses and the body of a slave who was buried alive with them. The west Zhou Dynasty horse and chariot vault mirrored, to some extent, the industry and the life of the noblemen at that time.

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Xi'an - Mausoleum of Yellow Emperor

Legend has it that the mausoleum of Yellow Emperor is that of Xuanyuan, founder of the Chinese nation. The mausoleum stands at the top of Mt. Qiaoshan, north of the Huangling County seat. Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) was a great tribal chief at the time towards the end of primitive society in China. He was honored as the ancestor who had initiated Chinese civilization. The burial ground is about four square kilometers. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and is covered with lush forest. The south-facing mausoleum is four meters high and 50 meters in circumference. About 40 meters in front of the tomb is a twenty-meter-high platform with a stele on one side, on which is inscribed ”Han Wu Xian Tai”(Han Wu Praying Platform). At the foot of the mountain stands a temple known as Xuanyuan Temple, where there are still some structures, ancient cypresses and stone steles.

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Xi'an - Xingjiao Temple

About 20 km to the southwest of Xian, It is an important destination for the Buddhists. It was built in 669 AD by Tang Gaozong as a memorial to the Tang monk Xuanzang, together with a tall brick pagoda covering his remains. The tall central pagoda is a beautiful five-storey brick structure, with brackets in relief, in imitation of the old wooden-style pagodas. A small pavilion next to the pagoda has a modern copy of a stone engraving of Xuanzang. On the either side of the principal pagoda are those of Xuanzangs two translation assistants. Each is three-storey. The pagodas all remain its original style and form a harmonious complex. They are situated in a walled enclosure which named the Cien Pagoda Courtyard. Except some Buddha statues dating from the Ming dynasty, the bell and drum towers, the Great Hall of the Buddha, the Preaching Hall and the library were all built in the 1920s and 1930s. The library contains a white jade Buddha from Burma, some Tang-dynasty Buddhist sutras in Sanskrit and editions of translated works, including those of Xuan Zang.

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Xi'an - Straw Hut Temple

Called Caotang Si in Chinese, the temple, about 40 km southwest of Xian, was found in 855 in the Tang Dynasty. The small temple is renowned for the site where a great Indian monk, Kumarajiva, translated large volume Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese in fourth century. Kumarajiva died in 413 and his cremation ashes was buried in the stupa which is about 7 feet tall and inlaid with colorful Jade carvings. The well in the temple used to win it a good reputation.

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Xi'an - Green Dragon Temple

Located 3 kilometers (about 1.87 miles) southeast of Xian city, Green Dragon Temple used to be one of the most famous temples in the Tang dynasty (618 - 907 A.D.). First built in 582 during the Sui dynasty (581 - 618 A.D.), the temple was originally named Lingan Temple (Temple of Inspiration) and later in 711 during the Tang dynasty renamed Qinglong Temple (Green Dragon Temple). The temple was destroyed in 1086 and the present one was the product of restoration. Green Dragon Temple is the ancestor temple of Tantra sect of Japan Buddhism, and the holy temple for Japanese. In the early and middle 9th century, large quantities of Japanese monks were sent to China to study Buddhism scriptures. Among the well-known "eight monks entering the Tang", six once studied Buddhism in Green Dragon Temple, in which Monk Kukai was the most famous one. In 1982, a memorial monument of Konghai was built at the ruins of the original Green Dragon Temple in memory of Monk Kukai.

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Xi'an - Xiangji Temple

It lies about 20 kilometers to the south of Xian. It is very close to the Wangqu town. The two square brick pagodas were built over the ashes of the Buddhist Shandao, one of the patriarchs of Pure Land Buddhism preached salvation through faith rather than meditation. Shandao had a great influence upon the development of Japanese Buddhism. This pagoda was built by a disciple named Huaiyun and it is 11-storey high. There is a smaller five-storey brick pagoda near to the east of the bigger one, which was built to commemorate Jingye, a disciple of the Buddhist Shandao. Originally, around the pagoda were the building of one of the great temple-monasteries of Tang Changan, for some reasons, it disappeared long before. It has brackets in relief and imitates a wooden structure. There are about 25 monks who lived in this temple.

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Xi'an - Daxingshan Temple

Once It was the greatest Buddhist establishment of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, The history of this temple can be traced back to the third century, when its original name was Zunshan Temple. During the Sui Dynasty, it was rebuilt and was given its present name. Since then, it gradually became the headquarters of an order with a network of 45 prefectural temples, which were all established by Yang Qian, the founder of the Sui Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, it became a great center of Buddhist art and learning. However, during the Buddhist persecution of 841-845, most of the buildings were destroyed and even ones that survived also disappeared by the end of the Tang. The temple was rebuilt in the Ming and again restored in 1785 by an expert on Tang Dynasty Changan called Bi Yuan (1730-97). After its reconstruction in 1956, it was used by a Community of Lamaist monks until the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Today it houses the Xian Buddhist Association.

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