A Corner of Xi’an in the Night

无思

　　The Bell Tower is the center of Xi’an city. However, in spite of my living in this city, I have never stopped to embrace the splendor of the center of this ancient city or appreciate her grace and glamour. Recently, I was fortunate to live nearby the Bell Tower for several days, thus give me the chance to feel the gorgeous sight of the night in Xi’an with my heart, to record its history and modern life with my eyes, and to taste its flavor and romance with my tongue. The combination of history and modern life, decorated by the aroma of special cuisines in Xi’an, impressed me with long and wonderful memories.

　　It was slightly chill in early winter, but I was in high spirits. In the night, lanterns were lighted on both sides of the roads on which vehicles running like a stream. Decorated by colorful bulbs, the Bell Tower was like an elegant lady, dignified and charming. The dark blue ancient city wall and gate tower seemed more massive and strongly fortified in the lights. On the wide and long moat around the city wall, several ducks were playing with their own reflections. I was so attracted by the traffic flow on the road and the beautiful lights on the ancient buildings, so obsessed in the glory of the integration of antiquity and modern, and so filled with admiration for the powerful imperial city and prosperous hodiernal life that I stood there speechlessly, forgotten about the bitter cold. The city, as bright as daytime, was burning in passion intensely and ardently in the early night. A dot, a side, a building or a street was a thick book of the fusion of ancient and modern times, which was expressed perfectly and vividly in ancient Xi’an just for our earnest and careful reading.

　　Chang’an has always been the capital city of dynasties in China’s history. Every person stepping in the city would be attracted by the profound history with much fascination. The spring of Chang’an is “Drizzling on the street is moist, while the hazy grass of early spring could be found faraway and disappeared closely” in Han Yu’s words, the summer is “green scholar trees lining on the sides of streets and lasting for several blocks in the city” in Bai Juyi’s poem, the autumn is “Slight wind blowing on the Weishui River, while Chang’an city is pictured by fallen leaves” in Jia Dao’s deion, and the winter is “Snowflakes floating in the doors of houses, and silently drifting into the ditches of the city” in Zhu Wan’s . Poems left by ancient poets as Li Bai and Han Yu add to the artistic charm to the ancient city and brought visitors back to the history of Han and Tang dynasties. Countless stories happened in the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the City Wall, the City Gate and the City Moat, while the remains of ancient Chang’an still performs in the Giant and the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, the Qinglong Temple, the relics of Daminggong Palace, Tang Paradise, Forest of Steles, Xingqing Palace and museums. They represent the top status of Chang’an culture among Chinese ancient civilization, which makes every Xi’an person feel proud and affected of its profound history and valuable significance.

　　If you ask an old Xi’an person, you would know about the names of ancient streets, which are interesting and archaic. Streets as Tanshi Street, Luoma Market, Wuwei Cross, Bingjiao Lane, Fenxiang Alley, etc. all have stories behind. Except for shopping and tasting specialties, listening to stories is my favorite. The aftertaste of stories would make me devout and excited about the trace to the ancient culture. Only in Xi’an, the ancient city, could we be satisfied in spirit and experience lively the extensive ancient Chinese civilization.

　　Connected with the Drum Tower, Muslim Street, one of the lanes in Xi’an, is not far away from the hotel I lived, which gave me much convenience. I was attracted not only by the spectacularity of the Drum Tower, but also the appealing tastes of this street. Steaming Zenggao is made by sticky rice and red jujubes, which is very delicate that the first layer is relatively hard as the third very soft and the middle layer has multiple tastes. People wait in lines for Rougamo, the Chinese pancake filled with beef mince and seasoned with beef soup, which would make one greedy. Cruded pancake in mutton soup is the specialty that has many time-honored brands, and it can be tailored according to one’s favor as Paomo(the regular taste), Danzou(the pancake is not soaked in the soup), and Shuiweicheng(pancake and mutton in the middle of the bowl with the soup surrounding). All the tastes above are special, delicious and warm. Boiled dumplings, soup dumplings and beef and mutton Baozi are all so appetizing that I ordered several ones to satisfy my craving for them. In the street we can also find dried beef and mutton, kebab and dried sheep hoof providing, smanthus cakes, Mahua(fried dough twist) and fried walnut presenting, as well as all kinds of cold rice noodles waiting for your enjoyment. For so many varieties, so much exquisite cooking techniques and so many special gourmets, one may try one tenth of them in spite of the stay for many days. Xi’an integrated the fine food all over Shaanxi province, from south to north, from east to west. Each delicacy is so fabulous beyond words, and our enjoyment represents only one corner of the gourmet map.

　　Here I encountered with visitors from Dalian, Henan and Guilin, etc. A couple from Lvliang of Shanxi province was not only attracted by the beautiful sceneries, but also the local culture. They asked me excitedly that where they could found the Eight Strange of Shaanxi. I explained that the Eight Strange is the customs of the Guanzhong culture, which indicates that the Guokui(crusty pancake) is as large as the pot lids, the noodles are as wide as belts, the houses are built on one side, the girls of Shaanxi would not marry to boys in other places, old ladies like to put the towels on their heads, the Qinqiang Opera is performed as shouting, the hot pepper powder is regarded as a dish, and people prefer crouching to sitting on chairs. They started smiling when they get the meaning of the Eight Strange, expressed their thanks and hurried for the following romantic travel. I wish they would find the answers in the future travel.

　　Standing on the street, I felt the flourish of the modern city out of the ancient gate towers and street lamps of shapes of ancient coins and red Chinese knot. Xi’an has the colorful neon as Chang’an Street in Beijing, the prosperity as the Bund in Shanghai, the brightness as the center of Chongqing city, and also the harmony of skyscrapers and the ancient buildings. In the dusk of evening, the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, decorated by fancy lanterns, are just like alluring goddess or dignified heavenly palace which makes you feel small and insignificant. Running vehicles from the four streets around the Bell Tower lead the ways to four directions faraway with fascinating lights. The lights, the flowers in the night, the starry sky…formed the special scene with leisurely aroma, which make one feel upsurging and passionate. This scene connected human with the universe and make us enchanted to the visual shock in every minute.

　　Annulus underpass around the Bell Tower gives the convenience to people in Xi’an that they could travel by subways to the High Speed Rail or to the railway station, even to every corner of the city.

　　Despite the bitter cold, I felt no chill in the air. The ground is as clean as coastal cities with the fence by the side of road spotless and no leaves under the trees. The feel of cleanness from the roads and air is so extraordinary that touched me a lot.

　　The roughness of Qin people has turned into courtesy and hospitality. More smile, more manners represent more friendly feelings, and more kindness, more patience lead to more magnanimity. Elegance, nobility, quality and connotation make me immersed in refreshed happiness.

　　Today, Xi’an is implementing the rejuvenation plan of imperial city with the foundation of economy, image, culture and society, so as to build up a magnificent peak city in the world with the gorgeous history and prosperous development.

　　Today, Xi’an is burgeoning with the “eight powers” of hard technology (aerospace, new material, intelligent manufacturing, information technology, life technology, artificial intelligence, photoelectric chips and new energy), and marching passionately on the journey of the new era.