Xi'an

Cultural attractions

Xi'an Ancient Culture Festival

Always a favourite with foreigners, beautiful Xi'an adds some fine traditional dance, music, song and opera to its formidable list of attractions for this festival. The Ancient Culture Festival celebrates traditions that originate back in the mists of the past 4000 years - at the very dawn of Chinese civilisation. Featuring a lantern show on the Ming-period city walls during the evening, the festival provides plenty of folk-culture entertainment during the day. Xi'an has ten different forms of local opera for a start! Drum dancing, art, music and dance are all on the menu, along with some tasty snacks. This event began in 1986, showing a new tolerance of ethnic minorities by the Chinese Communist Party, somewhat tempered by the new respect for tourist dollars!

Xi'an Kite Festiva

The photo taken on April 15, 2006 shows the terracotta-warrior array kite at the opening ceremony of the Second Xi'an Kite Festival in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Zhang Tianwei, a kite-making master, spent over 10 years in making the 40-meter-long and 1.5-meter-wide kite.