The former capital city of ancient China, center of commerce and eastern starting point of the Silk Road, Xi'an is the home of the 8000 or more Terracotta warriors who guard the body of the first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang.
Terra Cotta Warriors
As the current capital of the Shaanxi province, Xi'an is also famous for its Forest of Stone Steles Museum built in 1090A.D., which contains the largest collection of these engraved stone tablets in China.
Stone Steles
Topics included in this collection include works of literature and philosophy, history, calligraphy and pictorial aspects. The calligraphy here, in particular, has been widely used by historians to trace the development of Chinese calligraphy from the Han to the Qing dynasties as it transitioned through five basic script forms: seal script, clerical script, regular script, running script and cursive script.
Please visit the following sites for more information:
http://www.pmgeiser.ch/china/places/xian.htm
http://www.chinatour.com/attraction/xian.htm
http://www.warriortours.com/cityguides/xian/forest.html
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/xian.htm