Back in Xi’an: How China’s Ancient Capital Became Our Gateway to Beyond Xi’an
What We Experienced in Xi’an: Dad and Elaine were equally excited to return to Xi’an for our second visit. Then two of the city’s most familiar sights came back into view — the Bell Tower through our DiDi windshield and the ancient City Wall we actually drove through.
This wasn’t our first time in Xi’an (西安, Xī’ān).
It was our second.
And Dad wasn’t the only one excited to be back.
Elaine was too. ❤️
There’s something different about returning to a city you’ve already explored together.
The first visit gives you:
“What’s that?”
The second gives you:
“There it is!”
And Xi’an gave us that feeling almost immediately.
🎥 First — Come Back Into Xi’an With Us
Rather than Dad trying to describe the feeling first, watch these two short videos.
🔔 There It Is — Xi’an Bell Tower
We’re simply sitting in the back of a DiDi.
Ahead of us, getting larger and larger through the windshield, is:
Xi’an Bell Tower (西安钟楼, Xī’ān Zhōnglóu).
Our car keeps approaching until we actually circle one of the great visual symbols of Xi’an.
Cars.
Traffic.
Modern buildings.
And right in the middle of everything…
西安钟楼.
For Dad and Elaine, it wasn’t:
“Oh, what’s that?”
We knew exactly what it was.
There it is. We’re back. ❤️
🧱 And Then — Straight Through Xi’an City Wall
This one gives an even stronger feeling of Xi’an.
Watch the wall ahead.
At first it’s in the distance.
Then it gets bigger.
And bigger.
The massive gray brickwork begins filling the windshield.
Our DiDi keeps going.
Until…
we drive right through the Xi’an City Wall (西安城墙, Xī’ān Chéngqiáng).
For a few seconds, we’re inside the passage through the ancient wall.
Then daylight.
Modern Xi’an again.
That’s something a photograph can’t quite reproduce.
You don’t just see the City Wall.
You feel yourself passing through it.
But Our Xi’an Story With This Wall Started Years Earlier
Now Dad wants to rewind.
2019.
Our first Xi’an trip.
Elaine was much younger.
Dad’s glasses were different.
😂
And behind us was the same enormous City Wall.
At that time, Xi’an was still a city we were discovering together.
The City Wall.
The Bell Tower.
The Terracotta Warriors.
Everything was new.
🐇 That first journey also took us to the Terracotta Warriors — something Dad later realized becomes much more interesting when you understand why those thousands of soldiers were created:
Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an: Don’t Just Look at the Soldiers →
Seven Years Later…
Same city.
Same wall.
Different Elaine.
❤️
Seven years later, we weren’t arriving somewhere completely unfamiliar.
Xi’an already contained our memories.
That’s why seeing these landmarks again felt different.
The first time:
discovery.
The second time:
recognition.
And yes…
we still took the selfie.
🐇 But Xi’an Wasn’t Just Somewhere We Came Back To
There was another reason Dad and Elaine were so happy to see Xi’an again.
On this journey, Xi’an (西安, Xī’ān) wasn’t simply another stop.
It became our base.
We had arrived through Xianyang (咸阳, Xiányáng).
We traveled west to Baoji (宝鸡, Bǎojī).
Then we came into Xi’an.
And from here, Dad’s map started developing…
rabbit holes.
😂🐇
Xi’an Kept Sending Us Somewhere Else
Once we were based in Xi’an, we started looking beyond the usual Xi’an itinerary.
There was:
Zhouyuan (周原, Zhōuyuán)
The homeland of the Zhou — where questions about what came before Qin started becoming real places rather than dates in a history book.
🐇 Beyond Xi’an: Go to Qishan & Zhouyuan — and Walk Through the Homeland of the Zhou →
There was
Zhongnanshan (终南山, Zhōngnánshān)
and another direction into China’s philosophical and cultural landscape.
There were journeys farther out from Xi’an.
Some were easy day trips.
Others turned into journeys of their own.
And then…
Dad started looking even farther away.
Dad Has a Slightly Dangerous Travel Habit
Dad likes maps.
Perhaps too much.
😂
Give Dad an evening in a hotel room and eventually he’ll start scanning the cities surrounding wherever we’re staying.
Then comes the dangerous question:
“What’s over there?”
A city Dad has barely heard of.
A historical name.
An ancient temple.
Someone important was born there.
A dynasty began nearby.
Something happened there 2,000 years ago.
And…
🐇
there goes another rabbit.
That’s how some of our favorite China journeys began.
Not because they appeared on a:
TOP 10 THINGS TO DO IN CHINA
list.
But because Dad found a thread…
and pulled it.
🐇 And That’s How Yuncheng Happened
One of those discoveries was:
Yuncheng (运城, Yùnchéng)
in neighboring Shanxi Province.
Yuncheng wasn’t originally one of those obvious international-traveler destinations.
Dad found it because he kept researching.
And the more he looked…
the more stories appeared.
Shun (舜).
Guan Yu (关羽, Guān Yǔ).
Ancient Chinese ideas about what makes a good ruler — and a good man.
Suddenly:
“What’s in Yuncheng?”
became:
“We have to go to Yuncheng.”
😂🐇
And even getting there became a story.
We missed our planned train during the May Day (劳动节, Láodòng Jié) holiday rush.
So instead of leaving Xi’an…
we unexpectedly got another two nights here.
Eventually we managed to get a high-speed train north to Yuncheng.
And from Yuncheng, another rabbit led us onward.
🐇 Yuncheng → Hancheng → Back to Xi’an
From Yuncheng we traveled toward:
Hancheng (韩城, Hánchéng)
And Hancheng gave us another completely different story.
Sima Qian (司马迁, Sīmǎ Qiān).
The man behind the:
Records of the Grand Historian —《史记》(Shǐjì)
Suddenly another place that many international travelers have never considered visiting became meaningful to us.
🐇 Hancheng From Xi’an — The Overnight Stop That Helped Us Understand 3,000 Years of Chinese Civilisation →
Eventually…
we came back to Xi’an again.
So Xi’an Became More Than Xi’an
And perhaps that’s why seeing the Bell Tower (西安钟楼) and City Wall (西安城墙) again felt so good.
Xi’an had become something more than a city containing famous attractions.
It had become our anchor.
We could go west.
North.
Out into smaller cities.
Into museums.
Ancient capitals.
Archaeological landscapes.
Temples.
Mountains.
Places Dad hadn’t even known existed before he started researching.
And then…
we could come back.
Back through the City Wall.
Back past the Bell Tower.
Back to somewhere that was beginning to feel familiar.
ChinaTravelBUG’s Take
Our first Xi’an trip in 2019 was about:
SEEING.
The City Wall.
The Bell Tower.
The Terracotta Warriors.
Seven years later, our second journey felt different.
We were still excited to see those places.
Perhaps even more excited.
But now Xi’an was doing something else.
It was sending us outward.
Xi’an led us toward
Baoji. 宝鸡
Baoji led us toward the Zhou.
The Zhou led Dad into older questions.
One question produced another place.
One place produced another story.
And somewhere along the way, Dad developed a slightly dangerous habit:
looking at the map and asking…
“What’s over there?”
😂🐇
That’s how we found some of the places we now treasure most.
And that’s probably the biggest reason Dad and Elaine were so happy when the Bell Tower appeared through the windshield again.
It wasn’t simply:
“There is Xi’an.”
It felt more like:
“We’re back at base camp.”
And that is what Xi’an became for us — not just somewhere to visit, but a gateway to somewhere else.
Baoji. Zhouyuan. Hancheng. Yuncheng. Places we might never have discovered if Dad hadn’t kept asking, “What else is out there?”
🐇 If you’re curious too, follow us Beyond Xi’an — into the lesser-known places, histories and stories surrounding one of China’s great ancient capitals →
Because sometimes the most interesting part of Xi’an…
is where it leads you next.
