咸阳 (Xiányáng): Xianyang (prefecture-level city…

Meanings

1 Xianyang (prefecture-level city in Shaanxi Province; capital of the Qin Dynasty and one of the most important cities in early Chinese history)

Characters

咸

xián

all (classical) / salty

阳

yáng

sun / sunny side

Examples

咸阳是秦朝的首都。

Xiányáng shì Qíncháo de shǒudū.

Xianyang was the capital of the Qin Dynasty.

我们坐高铁从西安到咸阳只要十几分钟。

Wǒmen zuò gāotiě cóng Xī'ān dào Xiányáng zhǐ yào shí jǐ fēnzhōng.

It takes only a dozen-odd minutes by high-speed rail from Xi'an to Xianyang.

Tips

history

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

culture

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.