Xi'an History of the Terracotta Army and Ancient Banpo Village - Page 1

City of Xi'an (Translation -- Western Peace)

Xi'an (pronounced Shi - an), capital of the Chinese Empire for almost a thousand years, was one of the world's great metropolises, rivaling and even surpassing its contemporaries: Baghdad, Constantinople, and Rome. (Xi'an is different pronunciation than Xian. The apostrophe indicates that Xi'an is two syllables as opposed to Xian that is one syllable).

It is also one of China's oldest settlements. At Ban Po, just east of the modern town, remains of a Neolithic village have been found. Of the three millennia that intervened between the decline of Ban Po and the rise of Zhou, we know very little. Villages slowly evolved into towns.