For China, it all started with Shaanxi. The warlike ruler of the ancient kingdom of Qin united the Celestial Empire under the rule of one dynasty for the first time, and Shaanxi became the cradle of Chinese civilization, and the city of Xi’an became a huge multinational capital at a time when no one had ever heard of Beijing. It was in Xi’an that the Great Silk Road began and ended.
Shaanxi is known all over the world for its archaeological sites. However, on this land you will meet not only ancient traces: for example, in the city of Yan’an, caves that served as the headquarters of the Communist Party of China in the 1930s and 1940s have been preserved.
But Shaanxi is interesting not only for its history. In the local villages you will see the life of peasants, little affected by the madness of modernity. Legends about hermits and sages are alive in the picturesque mountains of the province. In a word, no matter which corner of Shaanxi you find yourself in, there is something to be surprised at everywhere.
SICHUAN
About 3,000 years ago, the Zhou tribe left their homeland on the territory of modern Shaanxi, conquered their Shan neighbors and began to rule throughout Northern China. A few centuries later, the ruling family of the Qin Kingdom, which made Xianyang city its capital, united China for the first time under the rule of one emperor after long wars. Several dynasties — Han, Sui, Tang — succeeded each other and continued to rule the country from Xi’an, which at that time was called Chang’an. Only the threat of the invasion of nomads from the west forced the capital of China to move to Luoyang.
Shaanxi remained the political center of China until the tenth century . The flight of the imperial court to the east led to the decline of the province. In 1556, the most devastating earthquake in the history of mankind hit Shaanxi, exhausted from hunger and rebellions, killing 830,000 people. In the XX century, total poverty made Shaanxi supporters of communist ideas — that’s why the province became a reliable base of the CPC.