Xian’s City Gate, china

After the establishment of the Ming dynasty in the 14th century, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang began to enlarge the wall built initially during the Tang dynasty (618 -907), creating the modern Xian City Wall. It is China’s best preserved ancient city wall and one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

The wall was originally built with layers of dirt, with the base layer consisting of lime and glutinous rice extract. The wall was restored three times, starting from the 16th century until the 20th century. The wall has four gates and stands 12 meters (40 feet) tall, 12-14 meters (40-46 feet) wide at the top and 15-18 meters (50-60 feet) thick at the bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles) in length with a deep moat surrounding it. It has a rampart at every 120 metre, a total of 98 ramparts. Each rampart is equipped with a sentry building.

The south gate, named Yongning, is the most beautifully decorated one. It is located next to the Bell Tower, center of the city. Important ceremonies organized by the Provincial Government are usually held in the south gate square.

The Drum Tower
Situated on the northern side of the western street of Xian, the Drum tower was first built in 1380 in the reign of Emperor Ming Hongwu. It was later rebuilt in 1699 by Emperor Qing Kangxi and again in 1740 by Emperor Qing Qianlong Era. The tower is 33 meters high and 52.6 meters wide, covering more than 1970 square meters. It has two storeys with double eaves and Xieshan roof. The Drum Tower is of abundant vitality and of grandiosity. Made of and covered by only one piece of high quality ox hide, the big drum is 1.80 meters high and 2.83 meters in diameter with the total weights of 1.5 tons.

Folk Customs: Shaanxi Farmers Painting
Shaanxi Farmers Painting originated in Shaanxi’s rural areas. The subjects of their paintings often include human figures, animals, flowers and birds. The structure of the painting is simple, clear and graceful – emphasizing the quantity of color and sharp visual effects. The paintings show a strong element of local customs and unique artistic style. It has been praised by tourists and experts both at home and abroad. Shaanxi Farmers Paintings can be found in Hu County in the central Shaanxi plain, Ansai and Luochuan in Shanbei. Hu County was praised as the “hometown of Peasant Painting”, and there are over 2,000 native-born peasant painters in Hu County, many of their excellent works are collected by art galleries in China and overseas.