Xi'An

Xi'An was our next stop after Beijing. Xi'An is one of the oldest cities in China and was originally considered to be the capital before it went to Beijing. It is rich in history being almost 3'100 years old and is home to almost 8 million Chinese people.

Running almost directly through the city is the Xi'An City Wall. It was originally built during the Tang Dynasty(618-907) and enlarged during the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644). The wall is made entirely of stone, is almost 9 miles long, 50-60 feet thick at the

bottom and 40 feet tall.

There are four main gates to the wall. In ancient times, they didn't have weapons capable of breaking through such a thick rock structure so their only way in was to attack the gates. Each gate had three gate towers which were used for defense as well.

Along the wall are 98 ramparts that extend out slightly from the wall. Each rampart had a sentry building where soldiers could defend against enemies trying to climb the wall. Also, each rampart was built the same length an arrow could fly. This way, soldiers on the wall could attack from either angle.

Instead of walking the length of the wall, you can rent bikes for fairly cheap and ride it instead. This is what we did so we could see more of it at once. It was fun to be riding a bike on a wall so old and that had seen so much history.

On a side note, Andi's mom is friends with the women to the left of Andi in the photo above. They used to be colleagues together several years ago. The women has been in the Chinese Army almost all her life and has worked with several other branches as well. She was able to get us into most places for free because she knew everyone(however in some spots, I have to pay because I'm a foreigner!). She has been friends with the man to my left since they were teenagers. He is "The General!" At one point in time, this man was in charge of half of China's army! He is retired now but everyone still treats him like royalty. We were picked up at the airport by the local police(because he's friends with the chief of police), chauffeured around Xi'An by the local army, and stayed in a army hotel in the best room they had. Once again, it's all about "who you know" in China and your "connections."