Travel Guide to Shanxi Province: Where Ancient Civilization Meets the Modern Era

Shaanxi Province, abbreviated as “Shaan” or “Qin”, is a provincial-level administrative region of the People’s Republic of China with Xi’an as its capital. It is located in the inland heartland of China, in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. It borders Shanxi and Henan to the east, Ningxia and Gansu to the west, Sichuan, Chongqing and Hubei to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the north. As of June 2023, Shaanxi Province has 10 prefecture-level cities.
Shaanxi is one of the important birthplaces of the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization as approved by the State Council. It is also a key region for the new-era Western Development and the joint construction of the “Belt and Road Initiative”. In 2024, the added value of strategic emerging industries in Shaanxi increased by 5.8% over the previous year, including the new-generation information technology industry, biotechnology industry, high-end equipment manufacturing industry, new energy vehicles, solar cells, integrated circuit wafers, e-commerce and other fields.
The representative historical culture of Shaanxi is “Sanqin Culture”. Fourteen dynasties and regimes, including the Western Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, established their capitals here. Shaanxi is the location of the geodetic origin (the benchmark for China’s longitude and latitude) and the National Time Service Center for Beijing Time.
The terrain of Shaanxi is high in the north and south and low in the middle, consisting of plateaus, mountains, plains and basins. The Loess Plateau accounts for 40% of the province’s total land area. The province straddles two major water systems — the Yellow River and the Yangtze River — and three climate zones: the area along the Great Wall in northern Northern Shaanxi has a mid-temperate monsoon climate; Guanzhong and most of Northern Shaanxi have a warm temperate monsoon climate; and Southern Shaanxi has a northern subtropical monsoon climate.
Major scenic spots and historical sites in the province include the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor, the Terracotta Army, Huashan Mountain, the Site of Weiyang Palace, the Site of Daming Palace, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, the Xi’an City Wall, the Xi’an Bell and Drum Towers, the Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City, and the Tang Paradise.
Shaanxi has a total of 257 A-level tourist attractions, including 8 national 5A-level scenic spots (Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Terracotta Army Museum, Huaqing Pool Scenic Area, Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor Scenic Area, Giant Wild Goose Pagoda – Small Wild Goose Pagoda Scenic Area, Huashan Scenic Area, Famen Temple Buddhist Cultural Scenic Area, Jinsixia Scenic Area, and Taibaishan Scenic Area in Baoji), 70 national 4A-level scenic spots, 140 national 3A-level scenic spots, 54 national 2A-level scenic spots and 2 national 1A-level scenic spots.
For natural landscapes, there are Huashan Mountain (the Western Mountain of the Five Great Mountains) in Huayin City, Taibai Mountain in Mei County of Baoji, Huaqing Pool at Lishan Mountain in Lintong near Xi’an, Zhongnan Mountain, Cuihua Mountain, and the Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River at the border of Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces.