Xi'an: Home to 6 UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites

Xi'an, the capital city of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, is home to six UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites. As the China-Central Asia Summit is set to take place in Xi'an from May 18 to 19, and the city prepares to embrace attention from the world, let's take a look at these sites.

1. Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor

The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor containing terracotta warriors and horses is located in Lintong county near Xi'an city. Constructed from 246 BC to 208 BC, the mausoleum was the first of its kind in Chinese history. With a height of 76 meters, the mausoleum is laid out in line with the dimensions of Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). It is composed of the inner compound and the outer compound, which have perimeters of 2.5 km and 6.3 km, respectively. The tomb is located in the southwest of the inner compound. The pits containing the terracotta army guarding the mausoleum were discovered in 1974.

The Qinshihuang Mausoleum is one of the world's largest imperial mausoleums. Although the actual tomb chamber has not been excavated yet, probes have determined that it is a luxurious underground palace with a unique structure and abundant funeral objects.

Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was listed as a cultural heritage site by UNESCO in December of 1987.

The Silk Road's Routes Network of the Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor - including historical monuments in China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014. The following five sites in Xi'an are included in the routes.