by Bo Schwerin
It's one of those situations that tests reality: I'm separated by one inch of glass from Buddha's finger. Finger bone, actually, a hollow ivory-hued tube displayed in a case rather spartan considering this is a relic of not just any Buddha, but the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, whose teachings in the sixth century B.C. led to the birth of Buddhism. Nevertheless, the bone has that clean aura of holiness; I imagine laying my own finger upon it and being transformed into glass, the whole of 
existence filtering through me like sunlight. "The bone you see here," my chirpy guide announces, "is a fake."Oh. According to my guide, of the three finger bones on display at the Famen Temple (famen si), two are clever replicas designed during the Tang Dynasty (678-902) to throw off thieves. Around the corner, the real finger of Buddha is housed in the most elaborate case and is barely visible in its golden reliquary behind heaps of flowers, fruits and incense. When visiting Xi'an ("Western Peace"), one often gets the sense that there's a bit of three-card Monty going on. The genuinely staggering historical presence of the city can sometimes get lost in the shuffle of deadlocked traffic, dizzying pollution, and hordes of souvenir vendors who pursue visitors with wolverine-like doggedness. It's easy to wonder if there's any real aura left to Xi'an, or if its appeal is (figuratively speaking) ancient history, trampled to dust by the tourist herds and the parasites that feed off them.
But one almost needn't visit Xi'an to be in awe of the place. In a country where it seems every city of decent size and age has been the capital of some dynasty, kingdom or government, Xi'an still stands out as the general site of no less than 13 dynastic capitals and the owner of over 3000 years of history. The first capital of unified China, Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-206 B.C.) Xianyang, was established near the grounds of modern day Xi'an. Following were the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D.) capital of Chang'an ("Eternal Peace") and the Sui Dynasty capital of Daxing ("Great Excitement"). By the time the Tang Dynasty founded their capital in Daxing (renaming it Chang'an), the city was the largest in the world and was a cultural and economic nexus rivaled only by Rome. As the eastern end of the famous Silk Road linking China to the West via extensive, lucrative trade routes, Chang'an flourished until it was destroyed during the fall of the Tang.
Present-day Xi'an was founded during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a shadow of its former self that has nonetheless grown into one of modern China's ten largest cities and is capital of Shaanxi Province. Xi'an is imbued with so much history it feels almost surreal; even amid the cacophonous traffic and the sad-faced apartment buildings, with a little effort one can imagine the camel trains slowly loping toward the western horizon, laden with the treasures of the Orient. The specters of China's ancient exemplary still loom here: Qin Shi Huang, the unifier of China, whose great and terrible heart still feels palpably alive, speaking from the forested hill under which lies the emperor's personal necropolis. Wu Zetian, China's only female emperor, who to this day commands respect from her mountaintop tomb. In the dilapidated remains of the imperial baths, a Tang Dynasty playground for the emperors and the highly favored, one's imagination can still fetch a teasing glimpse of Yang Guifei, one of China's legendary beauties, testing the waters. With so much to take in over a fairly wide area, Xi'an is potentially overwhelming. But the main tourist paths are well marked and well traveled, and, despite their popularity, are still worth following yourself. Imperial Xi'an
Any visit to Xi'an typically begins, and rightly so, with a visit to the Terracotta Army (bingmayong) Museum. Located about 40km to the east of Xi'an proper, the magnificent guardians of Qin Shi Huang's massive tomb complex easily live up to their claim as the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World. Within three well-housed pits, the soldiers, each crafted with unique facial features, form orderly ranks that, in the places where excavation is ongoing, seem to march out of the earth itself. Pit 1 features largely infantry, Pit 2 includes horses, chariots, and archers, and Pit 3 is the army headquarters. Like all armies, this one too has suffered losses: Shattered remains speak of a real-life confrontation between Qin Shi Huang's terracotta army and the looting bands of the warlord Xiang Yu in the days following the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. Also on display are two fantastically detailed chariots, on about a 50 percent scale, complete with horses and drivers.
More numerous than the soldiers themselves are the replicas of varying sizes purveyed by a mini-market of vendors near the entrance to the grounds. A set of poor quality miniatures can be had for as little as 5 yuan; somewhat better reproductions begin around ten yuan (negotiable), though full-size versions cost well into the thousands. Qin Shi Huang's proper tomb is located nearby the terracotta soldiers' encampment. Marked by a nondescript tree-covered hill, the tomb is said to be a virtual underground city, complete with pearl stars, flowing rivers of mercury, and - to the delight of Indiana Jones fans everywhere - booby traps. However, none of this will come to light anytime in the near future. The time it would take to completely unearth the emperor's tomb using current methods is estimated at well over a century. Also outside of Xi'an is the Qianling Tomb (qianling), resting place of another of China's most forceful ruling personalities: Wu Zetian. The onlywoman to ever assume the dragon throne outright (she actually took the title of Emperor Shengshen), Wu Zetian was a harsh ruler, ruthless in maintaining her power and even establishing her own dynasty, the Zhou, which lasted from 690 until 705, when she was forced to abdicate. Wu Zetian's tomb is perhaps the most geographically magnificent in 
China, located on the three peaks of Liangshan Hill. The north peak, in which her tomb is hidden, rises between the hill's two near-symmetrical smaller ones, nestling the empress's body and that of the Tang Emperor Gaozong in the bosom of the earth. (Wu Zetian was Gaozong's empress consort, seizing control as the emperor's health declined.) A wide path lined with guardian statues scales the mountain to about the halfway point, after which dirt trails continue up to the supposed entrance to the unexcavated tomb. (Horse-drawn sleds offer rides to the entrance for a negotiable fee but are not worth the time.) Be sure to note the headless statues of foreign dignitaries to the left and right of the halfway point; local peasants long ago decapitated the statues as retribution for a drought they felt was caused by foreign influence. The Qianling Tomb has seventeen satellite tombs, including those of the Princess Yongtai (Wu Zetian's granddaughter) and Crown Prince Zhanghuai (her son).Once you have seen where the imperial rulers now rest eternally, you can take in where they used to rest while alive. The Huaqing Hot Springs (huaqing chi), 30km east of Xi'an, were once the resort of the Tang emperors and their concubines. Here you can see the private bath of Yang Guifei, who so enamored the emperor Xuanzong that he neglected his duties and nearly lost the dynasty to a mutinous uprising. High up on a nearby hillside is a site of more modern importance: the site of the Xi'an Incident. At this spot in December 1936, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by his subordinates and later forced to agree to cooperate with Communist forces against the invading Japanese. The aged grandeur of the imperial baths and tombs can go to one's head. Providing a humbling sense of perspective are the hundreds of farmers' graves and cemeteries that dot the expansive fields outside of Xi'an, easily viewed along the roads leading to and from the imperial sites. Their tombs often marked by no more than a small earthen mound and a brick niche for incense, these farmers now rest in the same fields in which they spent their lives laboring. The journey to (and from) the West Not merely a center of trade, Tang Dynasty Xi'an was a religious pomphalos as well, hosting followers of Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Nestorianism (though not all of these groups were exactly welcomed by the Tang). Naturally, the city is home to a number of sites of religious significance. In 629, the 
Buddhist monk Xuanzang, seeking to collect important Buddhist texts, began a journey to India that ultimately lasted 17 years (fictionalized in the novel Journey to the West, one of the masterpieces of Chinese literature). Upon his return, the monk spent the remainder of his life translating the texts into Chinese, the results giving a huge boost to Buddhism in China. These texts and their translations were stored in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (dayan ta), built in 652 on the grounds of the Temple of Great Maternal Grace (da ci'en si) not far from central Xi'an. Copies of the translations are on display in the temple. If you're in decent shape, make like the Monkey King and scamper up to top of the seven-story pagoda for sweeping views of the city. A convenient final stop for a visit to Xi'an is the Great Mosque (da qingzhen si) in the city's Muslim quarter. First built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) for Muslims merchants arriving in Xi'an along the Silk Road, the mosque is the cultural and religious center of the city's sizeable Muslim Hui minority population. Constructed in the style of traditional Chinese architecture (much of the mosque was rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty [1616-1911]), the mosque features some of the most breathtaking upswept rooftops you'll find in China. Due to the architecture and the Sinicization of Islamic symbols, it's easy to forget you are even in a mosque (until you notice the Arabic inscriptions). The Great Mosque wears her age better than many historical sites in China; it imbues the visitor with a deep sense of peace and spirituality, be you Islamic or not, which is a rare find in the urban environment. The narrow alleyways leading to the mosque's entrance are lined with stalls and antique shops, which offer the usual souvenir fare in an environment pleasantly reminiscent of a Middle Eastern market. A bite at night, when you think it might be time to put your jaw to better use than just hanging open in the face of some historical marvel, Xi'an boasts food that can easily overstuff even the heartiest stomach. One of the city's essential dishes is yangrou paomo, a tasty Xi'an specialty that consists of a mutton soup served with wheat flour flat bread. The hard bread is broken up and added to the soup. Then the mixture is eaten along with pickled garlic cloves. The process of preparing this sumptuous stew involves the diner, who must break up the thick bun of unleavened bread into tiny pieces and fill the empty soup bowl with his desired amount. The wait staff will then take the bowl to the kitchen to fill with tangy soup and tender mutton or beef. Another culinary highlight in Xi'an lies just across the street from the city's Drum Tower (gulou): The Defachang Dumpling Restaurant (defachang jiaoziguan). Here the starving sightseer can gorge herself on dumpling feasts, featuring steamed, fried, and baked dumplings with all manner of fillings. After a few hours at Defachang, you'll stagger out into the night stuffed like a dumpling yourself.
But don't give in to sleep just yet. Nighttime is the best time for viewing Xi'an. Between the smoothing effects of the silken dark and the flattering lighting cast by the rotund, Buddha-belly moon, the city undergoes a transformation akin to an out-of-body experience. Wonder appears writ everywhere, as if in magic ink only visible in moonlight. The city's twin faces become definite, the modern Xi'an outlined in neon, remnants of the old city in a lunar glow, like ghostly incarnations that will fade come daybreak. And they will, in a way, as the sun exposes the rust of age and the stains of sooty progress. But that's okay. It might be a ruse, but the feeling is real.
(Source: That's China)
4
