 As the capital of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an is not only a world-renowned historical and cultural city, but also an important base for scientific research, higher education, science, technology and industry of the national defence and high-tech industry in China's central and western regions. In the layout of nationwide regional economy, Xi'an has a regional advantage of connecting the east with the west, hence it holds an important strategic position in the western development. In July 1992, it was approved to be an opening-up inland city by the State Council, and until now it has become the largest city on Lanzhou-Lianyungang and Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway lines, the Chinese section of the new Eurasian continental bridge. Now it exercises jurisdiction over 9 districts and 4 counties, with a total area of 9,983 square kilometres and a population of 7.41 million. Unrivalled tourism resources make Xi'an one of the well-known historical and cultural cities both at home and abroad. Guanzhong Plain, where Xi'an is located, has long been known as "the cradle of the Chinese nation". It is not only the important birthplace of the Chinese nation, but also one of the important birthplaces of human being and prehistoric cultural centers of the whole Asia. Xi"an had a history of over 3100 years of city construction, and 13 dynasties including Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang Dynasty successively established their capitals here. Xi'an once was China's political, economic and cultural center and the first city opened to the outside. The famous "Silk Road" starts from Xian. Therefore, it enjoys equal fame with world-renowned ancient capitals in history, including Athens, Rome and Cairo.
In 1981, UNESCO identified Xi'an as a "Famous Historical City of the World". Being an ancient capital with a long history and rich cultural relics, Xi"an has earned an outstanding status among many other ancient capital cities. Its unique style and feature is not only highly praised by ancient and modern scholars as well as tourists in all over the world, but also constitutes the city cultural vein and rare historical and cultural resources for urban economic and social development of Modern Xian. Xi'an is also a city with glorious revolutionary tradition. When the Revolution of 1911 broke out in Wuchang City, Xi'an was one of the capital cities to early respond, and the following student movement in Xi'an strongly supported the May Fourth Movement in Beijing in response to the revolution. "Two tigers (Yang Hucheng and Li Huchen) guarding Chang'an" and "Xi'an Incident" made Xi'an well-known far and wide at that time. In addition, the Eighth Route Army's Office in Shaanxi Province made great contribution to the eight-year Anti-Japanese War.
Endowed with long-standing historical and cultural heritages, Xian enjoys great popularity of "Natural Historical Museum". The great variety, large amount and great value of cultural relics and historic sites make Xi'an second to none all over China. There are 314 Key Cultural Relic Units under State Protection within Xi'an, of which there are 84 national-level and provincial-level culture relics protection places. Over 120 thousand pieces of historical relics have been unearthed at more than 4,000 ancient ruins and mausoleums, many of which are the rare treasures both at home and abroad. The Qin Shihuang's Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pits are known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World."
There are many world-famous scenic spots in the Xi'an tourist region, including Chang'an City of Han Dynasty, Daming Palace of Tang Dynasty, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Small Wild Goose Pagoda, Qujiang Pool, Xi'an Forest of Steles, Xian City walls of the Ming Dynasty, Bell Tower, Drum Tower, the mosque at Huajue Lane, Huangdi Mausoleum, Maoling Mausoleum and Yangling Mausoleum of Han Dynasty, Qianling Mausoleum and Zhaoling Mausoleum of Tang Dynasty and Famen Temple.
Hucheng's Office (now inside the yard of Shaanxi Provincial Government), Zhang Xueliang's Residence (now at Jianguo Road), Zhiyuan Park (now at Qingnian Road) and Gao Guizi's Residence (now at Jianguo Road), are the key national preserved cultural units. The site of the Eighth Route Army's Office in Shaanxi Province in Qixianzhuang of Beixin Street is still the old location of revolution for worldwide visitors to visit.
Besides cultural landscape, Xi'an abounds in natural wonders. There are many scenic spots such as Huashan Mountain (also known as Xiyue), Zhongnan Mountain, Taibai Mountain, Wangshun Mountain, Lishan Mountain, Huaqing Pool, the Louguan Temple and Lantian karst Cave within Xi'an or in its vicinity; meanwhile, the unique folk customs and local arts & culture take on a new look, and they have become the new humanistic tourism resources in Xi'an. These rich tourism resources provide important grounds for nurturing literary sentiment of Xi'an people. Since China's reform and opening up, tourism infrastructure and industrial system have formed a large scale. Within the whole city, there are more than 20 scenic spots with a receive capacity of 100,000 visitors per year, 9 national 4A-level scenic spots and 72 star-level hotels, of which 4 are five-star level and 13 are four-star level. Xi'an is one of the first batch cities awarded the title of "China Top Tourist City". Tourism has become a pillar industry in the economic development and a main source for earning foreign exchange. With its strong scientific & technological strength and advanced higher education, Xi'an is an important base for scientific research, education and high-tech industry in China. The comprehensive scientific and technological strength makes Xi'an rank the top among the major cities in China, only second to Beijing and Shanghai in its comprehensive scientific & technological strength and intelligence agencies. Xi'an has a large number of universities, research institutes, and technology development agencies as well as experts, scholars and professionals. Moreover, it owns a number of international-level opening laboratories and domestic first-class test & detection equipment. Some of its top technologies take the lead domestically.
Particularly, electronics, machinery, chemical industry, materials, survey, automation, aerospace, aviation and other fields have reached first-class level domestically even world-level internationally. Xi'an has a number of enterprises with independent intellectual property rights and technological innovations. Basic theories and applied research of various disciplines, patents and conversion of research results have scored outstanding achievements. Xi'an is playing an important place domestically and it has possessed the influential comprehensive strength in education, science and technology in Asia.
Currently, Xi'an has 9 state-level scientific research bases, 44 regular institutions of higher education, 34 pr |