Modern XI'AN is a manufacturing town of five million inhabitants and the capital of China's Shaanxi Province, holding a key position in the fertile plain between the high loess plateau of the north and the Qingling Mountains to the south. It's one of the more pleasant of Chinese cities, more prosperous than any other city in inland China except Chengdu, with streets full of Japanese cars, stores flooded with consumables, and stylish locals in the new discos. It's certainly far richer than the surrounding area, a fact suggested by the large numbers of rural migrants who hang around at informal labour markets near the city gates, and which becomes starkly obvious if you take a bus ride into the plains outside the city. The city is also a primer in Chinese history, as between 1000 BC and 1000 AD it served as the imperial capital for eleven dynasties. You'll find a wealth of important sites and relics hereabouts: Neolithic Banpo, the Terracotta Army of the Qin emperor, the Han and Tang imperial tombs, and in the city itself, the Goose Pagodas of the Tang, the Bell and Drum towers and Ming city walls , as well as two excellent museums holding a treasury of relics from the most glamorous parts of Chinese history. Despite the drawbacks of pollution (many of the locals walk around with white face masks on) and congestion, common to all rapidly industrializing Chinese cities, Xi'an is very popular with foreign residents , and many come here to study, as the colleges are regarded as some of the best places to learn Chinese.