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Xian was once the capital of China during the Tang Dynasty but the only site to see here are the Terra Cotta Soldiers, which are being heralded as the 8th Wonder of the World. The story of the site is amazing. Emperor Qin Shi Huang was a very powerful ruler who believed in afterlife. He believed that his rule would continue after he died so in about 247 BC he commissioned an entire underground palace along with 6000-7000 "soldiers" to be built. The entire project took about 40 years and over 700,000 people worked on it - mostly convicts. The statues are life size and each face is unique representing an actual person at the time. The solders were all placed in rows and the site was covered. Only a few years later, after Emperor Qin died, there was an uprising of the people. They broke into the underground palace and destroyed many of the clay soldiers and set fire to the entire area. It wasn't until 1976, over 2000 years later, that three rural farmers discovered the site while digging for a well. It took 5 years to uncover most of the grounds and restore the soldier figurines and in 1979 the site and museum were open to the public. One of the farmers is at the museum every day and if you buy the book about the site, he will sign it. At the museum you can also buy a replica of one of the soldiers for about $13,000. However this price includes shipping to the U.S. What a deal! We were told that President Clinton purchased 4 of these during his visit in June. Nice to know our tax dollars are going to good work.