The Han emperors made Chang'an their capital in 202 BCE. Nearby lies the tomb of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, guarded by the Terracotta Army that farmers found while digging a well in 1974.
Under the Tang dynasty (618–907) Chang'an may have had a million people, with markets where Persian, Sogdian and Arab merchants traded. The monk Xuanzang returned here from India in 645 with Buddhist texts and built the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to keep them.
Today's Xi'an is still ringed by its Ming-era city walls, among the best preserved in China.
