Capital of Shaanxi Province and one of China's Four Great Ancient Capitals. Starting point of the ancient Silk Road, historical capital of thirteen dynasties including Tang-era Chang'an (长安), and home to the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang.
memory
西安 literally means 'Western Peace' — a counterpart to its old rival capital Luoyang in the east. The apostrophe in pinyin Xī'ān separates the syllables to prevent reading it as 'xiān'.
