咸阳

Capital of the Qin state from 350 BCE and of the unified Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE) under Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇). The First Emperor's tomb complex with the Terracotta Army (兵马俑) sits in modern Lintong, just east of the old Xianyang site. Xiang Yu (项羽) burned the city's palaces in 206 BCE - fires said to have raged for three months.

The name 咸阳 means 'all on the sunny side': 咸 (xián) = 'all', 阳 (yáng) = the sunny northern bank of a river / southern side of a mountain. The city sat north of the Wei River and south of the Jiuzong Mountains - sunny on both counts.