Xi’an City Wall
From our stay we took a taxis to the South Gate of Xi’an City Wall. There we bought our tickets to get up to the wall. The cost of the ticket was ¥54 for an adult, free senior over 65 years old and children below 1.2m.
We entered the city from the south gate and the gate was a huge tunnel on the south face of the thick city wall. Once in we went up a set of steps to the top of the wall. Up on the wall we were amazed by its huge width. It was a wide promenade filled with many people. If we had not just walked up the steps (12meter high) we would had thought that we were on a huge pedestrian road with buildings.
Xian City Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty. It took about 8 years to complete and was a strong defensive building surrounding the whole city. The rectangular city wall was 13.75km in length, 12m in height and thickness of 15m-18m at the base reducing to about 12m-14m near its top. The width of the wall was thicker than its height forming a strongly fortified boundary around the city.
We took our time exploring the wall, there were many “explanation” tablets stationed at interval giving us some explanation of the various feature on the walls. They gave us an idea of the purposes of several “buildings” we saw on the wall.
We took about one and a half hours exploring one short side of the rectangular wall. It would certain take us forever (4 to 5 hours) if we wanted to complete the entire rectangular wall which was 13.75 km.
We could rent a bicycle to go round the entire perimeter but decided not to so as we were not here to exercise. Looking about we did not see any special building/features that one side had and the other sides did not, so there was really no need to do the entire wall walk. Besides the day was getting hot.
We were near the north side of the city wall and was ready to exit when we came upon several young ladies dressed up in period Chinese attires, each with their own professional photographers. The photographers were shouting out instructions, choreographing the movement of the ladies before taking beautiful shots of them. One of the photographers was pretty hilarious, he not knowing the names of the young ladies was calling them by their dress color…”.hey Xiao Hong ( Miss Red) look over here and glance over your left shoulder” or “Hey Xiao Bai (Miss White) turn the side of your facetoward me and pull up your sword halfway…”
Apparently Xian City wall was the best perserved and most complete city wall that had survived in China. Standing on the wall, it was amazing to see many old traditional Chinese looking buildings within the rectangular wall and big modern buildings outside the same wall.
Walking through the gates of the wall gave the feeling of travelling through a time tunnel from the modern world into an ancient city and if you met one of the “dressed up” ladies upon entering, the time travelling became even more “real”!
Early Dinner
We were off to an early dinner, using Baidu Map we found a Beijing Roast Duck restaurant nearby and most important it had many good reviews. Beijing Roast Duck was a well known China dish and was popular throughout China (and out of China). It could be found in all the cities!
We absolutely loved the “e-hailing” system of Chna, it was easy to use and it got us “everywhere” at an inexpensive rate. This encouraged us to venture out, go to any restaurant we fancied. We e-hailed a cab and was at the Roast Duck restaurant in “no time”.
The meal was delicious and the total cost for three came up to only ¥251.
Bell tower and drum tower
We made our way back to the Xi’An ancient city after dinner and again we e-hailed a cab. We were back to city to view the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. It was near to evening time and the lightings were up.
Wow! the Bell tower was stunningly beautiful. This ancient traditional complex marked the geographical center of the ancient capital Xi’an. From this complex extending East, South, West and North to reach the East, South, West and North Gates of the City Wall.
The Bell Tower was built in 1384 by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (Ming Dynasty), The tower stood on a square brick base of 35.4m lenght and 8.6 m height. The building looked magnificient with its green slopping roof and eaves,steps and bright lights. Near the Bell tower was another tower called the Drum Tower. It was built about the same time as the Bell Tower.
At the Drum Tower there we saw several drums on its north and south sides. The bell tower and drum tower were used in the ancient days to annouce time to the surrounding country sides. In the morning at 5.00am the bell was rang and at 7pm the drum was beaten 108 times indicated the closing of the city gates and the end of the day. The bell was used at various set time in the day and the drum at set time in the night to indicate the time to the city residents.