Xi'an Tang Imperial City Hanguang Entrance Remains Museum

With the opening of Xi'an Tang Imperial City Hanguang Entrance Remains Museum, also Hanguang Gate Site Museum of Xi'an Tang Imperial City, the first Chinese City Entrance Remains Museum, the public will gain greater knowledge of this ancient city. Xi'an's City Wall was constructed during the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Its design is based on the imperial city of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Hanguang Entrance is located in the western section of the southern city wall. After Chang'an was built, the middle and west entrances to the city were closed and only the east one remained. Later, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the eastern entrance was closed. In 1984, archaeological surveys unearthed the Tang Hanguang Entrance's granite pillars engraved doorsills and foundation. While the city wall has already been restored, the aforementioned museum commemorating the whole entrance site will soon open. The museum will be the first in China dedicated to an ancient city gate. Its exhibition hall will cover an area of nearly 4,000 square meters (4,784 square yards). It will contain the doorway of the Tang Hanguang Entrance. It will also display the section of the city wall made from five layers of packed dirt from five different periods of history. It will also contain the site of the underground culvert for circulating water around the city as well as exhibitions highlighting the history of Chinese walls and specifically Chang'an during the Sui (581-618) and Tang Dynasties.
 

The western section of the city wall is the most historically significant. Five layers of packed dirt mixed with lime and glutinous rice extract were used to build and enlarge the wall. The construction and restoration was done during five periods---Sui and Tang; later Tang; Song and Yuan; Ming and Qing as well as modern times. The earliest layer can be traced back to over 1,400 years ago during the Kaihuang Period of the Sui Dynasty.
 

The moat filled with circulating water is located beneath the city wall at Hanguang Entrance and is considered an engineering marvel for its time. It was a big part of Chang'an's water supply network in the Sui and Tang eras. Its structure indicates that water supply network engineering was surprisingly advanced during the 7th century.
 While Chang'an is well known as the starting point of the famous Silk Road, people could hardly imagine that the road actually began right at Hanguang Entrance. In the Tang Dynasty, Hongli Si was a government department of the foreign office for reception of foreign guests and adjudication of minority affairs. It was located just inside the Hanguang Gate. Exchanges of trade, culture and learning on the Silk Road were under the purview of this department.
 A thematic museum celebrating Chinese calligraphy is located between the two halls of the new Hanguang Entrance Remains Museum, which is the First museum special for Chinese calligraphy art. Old city wall and gate, together with profound Chinese art of calligraphy, add more archaic charms to Xi'an.
 

In the exhibition hall, visitors can enjoy a wide range of excellent cultural relics from several historical periods, which includes calligraphy works, pottery reproductions, seal clay, the oracle of Shang and Zhou Dynasties, tomb tablet inscriptions and tablet rubbings. Among the exhibitions, there are a lot of delicate treasures such as the Seal Clay in Qin Dynasty (221BC-207BC), Zi Xu Tie in running script by Huai Su in Tang Dynasty, Luoshen Fu in running script by Zhao Mengfu in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Wang's Four God's Propriety Mirror in Han Dynasty (206BC-220) and Pottery Fume Furnace and Lamp in Han Dynasty.

 

Take bus no.6, 16, 18, 35, 184, 224, 251, 286, 311, 402, 405, 407, 604, 608, 701, 800, 910 or 922 and get off at Han Guang Men (Hanguang Gate) Station. Note that the entrance of the museum is inside the Hanguang Gate, and on the north side of the city wall.
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Entrance Fee:	CNY 54, including the tickets for both the museum and the Xi'an City Wall; tourists can ascend the City Wall from inside the museum.
Opening Hours:	08:00-17:30