August is the highest of summer, when my wife and I explored the northwest China, an expansive and exotic land. We embarked on our journey in Xi’an on 16th Aug, through Lanzhou and Sining, and conclued in Dunghuang on 31st Aug. In our itinerary, there were an ancient city, a riverside city, a plateau city and an oasis city involved, depicting an impressive scroll of natural landscapes and cultural heritages.
八月是夏季的巅峰，我和我的妻子踏上了探索中国西北这片广袤异域的旅程。我们旅程始于8月16日的西安，途径兰州和西宁，最终于8月31日在敦煌结束。在行程中，我们探访了一座古老之城、一座河岸之城、一座高原之城和一座绿洲之城，如同描绘一幅自然景观与文化遗产之画卷，令人印象深刻。
The first stop was Xi’an, the ancient city. In history, Xi’an has been appointed as capital for 13 dynasties, outnumbering any other Chinese city. Among those dynasties, the Qin dynasty was the first to establish an empire. As for the Han and Tang dynasties, the two most achieved dnasties, both of them represented the prosperity of feudal China. Roaming the ancient city, I was immersed into the antique atmosphere.
第一站是西安，这座古老之城。在历史上，西安曾被13个朝代指定为首都，超过了其他任何中国城市。在这些朝代中，秦朝是第一个建立帝国的朝代。至于汉朝和唐朝，这两个最成功的朝代则代表了封建中国的繁荣。漫步在古城中，我沉浸于古香古色的氛围。
In Xi’an, We’ve visited 7 places in total, including the Terra-cotta Warriors, the Stele Forest Museum, the Xi'an Ancient Rampart, the Qinglong Temple, the Huaqing Palace, the Bell and Drum towers, the Dayan Pagoda and the Datang Everbright City. Among them, the first three places are necessarily to accentrate, and Qinglong Temple where optimum for Tang costume photographing is worthy to mention.
在西安，我们一共参观了七个地方，分别是兵马俑、碑林博物馆、西安古城墙、青龙寺、华清宫、钟鼓楼、大雁塔以及大唐不夜城。其中，前三个地方是绝对不可错过的景点，而青龙寺作为拍摄唐装的绝佳选择也值得一提。
I.The Terra-cotta Warriors
一、兵马俑
What we appreciated the most is the Terra-cotta Warriors, indeed we sought to make a plan to visit it as soon as arrived in Xi’an. Eventually, we decided to go there by travelling bus, that could be the most economical opt.
我们最期待的景点是兵马俑，实际上，一到西安我们就迫不及待地计划着去参观它。最后，我们决定搭乘旅游大巴前往，这是最经济的选择。
In 231 B.C., Qin Shi Huang, Chinese first emperor, unified 7 kingdoms by a series of conquests, founding the Qin dynasty. Despite valliant records, his health deteriorated irreversibly as grew older, thus in his last decade Qin Shi Huang was engaged in two major works: searching for panaceas, constructing the mausoleum.
公元前231年，中国的第一位皇帝秦始皇通过系列征服统一了七个王国，建立秦朝。尽管取得丰功伟绩，但随着年龄的增长，他的健康状况不可逆地在恶化。因此在他生命里的最后十年，秦始皇致力于两件大事：求仙问药，修建陵墓。
Obviously, he failed to find out any panacea ultimately, hence died at 50 years old. Nevertheless, he sucessfully built an unprecedented imperial mausoleum under the ground, while countless artisans moulded extravagant burial objects for him. The Terra-cotta Warriors, a sector of his burial objects, holds the excellent reputation.
显然，他最终也没能找到任何仙药，于是在50岁时去世了。然而，他成功地在地下建造了一座前所未有的皇家陵墓，数不胜数的工匠为他铸造了奢华的陪葬品。兵马俑是他陪葬品的一部分，享有极高声誉。
Today, archaeologists regard the Terra-cotta Warriors as “the Eighth Wonder of the World”, being on par with the Pyramid and the Great Wall. In contrast, the Qin dynasty crumbled into dust soon after the death of Qin Shi Huang, due to his tyrannical governance. Gazing into the eyes of those pottery warriors, I was captivated by their historic charm, while thought of history with a bit of sorrow.
今天，考古学家们将兵马俑视为“世界第八大奇迹”，与金字塔和长城享有同等地位。相反，秦朝却在秦始皇去世后很快土崩瓦解，因为他的残暴统治。凝视着那些陶俑的眼睛，我被它们的历史魅力所吸引，但在思考历史时也带着一丝忧伤。
II.The Stele Forest Museum
二、碑林博物馆
Moving forward to another destination I must elaborate, the Stele Forest Museum, which is the trove of Chinese calligraphy. The Museum boasts over 3,000 steles, rendering it house the largest similar collection worldwide.
目光转向另一个我必须细说的地方，碑林博物馆，这是中国书法的宝库。该博物馆拥有超过3,000块碑石，这使其拥有了全球最大的该类收藏。
Today, educational institutions imparting calligraphy are ubiquitous in China. Different from western countries, calligraphy holds a revered place in Chinese art, with more children practicing calligraphy than painting, dancing or musical instrument. And the way of practicing calligraphy is chiefly emulating calligraphing models, most of which stemmed from ancient inscribed steles.
在今日之中国，传授书法的教育机构随处可见。与西方国家不同，书法在中国艺术中占据崇高地位，相比绘画、舞蹈或乐器，有更多的孩子练习书法。练习书法的主流方式是临摹字帖，其中大部分字帖源自古代的碑石。
Among all these steles the museum exhibits, the Nestorian Stele, which is the testament of Christianity’s introduction to China, drew our utmost attention. This stele was inscribed approximately 1,200 years ago, by Christian in the Tang dynasty, demonstrating the truth that Chinese encountered gospel even earlier than British did.
在博物馆展出的所有这些碑石中，《大秦景教流行碑》引起了我们极大关注，这是基督教传入中国的见证。这块碑石约在1,200年前由唐代的基督徒所刻，证明了中国人早在英国人之前就接触到了福音。
In addition, the museum also curates an impressive exhibition of ancient sculptures, e.g. “Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum”. Most of suclptures here were excavated from mausoleums of the Han and Tang dynasties, indicating ancient Chinese high accomplishments in sculpture art.
此外，博物馆还展出了一系列令人印象深刻的古代雕塑，例如“昭陵六骏”。这里的大多数雕塑都是从汉唐时期的陵墓中出土的，显示了古代中国人在雕塑艺术方面的极高造诣。
III.The Xi’an Ancient Rampart
三、西安古城墙
Near the Stele Forest Museum gate, there is a convenient accesss point to the Ancient Rampart of Xi’an. While the majority of visitors selected the south gate which is too crowed, we found the entrance near the museum provedes a much quicker way.
在碑林博物馆大门附近，有一个通往西安古城墙的便捷入口。尽管大多数游客选择了拥挤的南门，但我们发现博物馆附近的入口提供了更省时的进入方式。
Its magnificence can be conceivable, as the rampart surrounding the ancient imperial city. The Rampart is nearly 14 kilometres in length, exceeding four times the Britain York Wall’s, and averagely 18 metres in width, roughly 12 metres in highth. We walked on the rampart westwards, to our right there are various traditional buildings, while modern edifices erected on our left.
作为环绕古代皇城的城墙，它的雄伟可以想象。这座城墙长约14公里，超过英国约克城墙的四倍，平均宽度为18米，高度约12米。我们沿着城墙向西行走，右边是各种传统建筑，而左边是现代高楼。
Several decades ago, a group of people once asserted to demolish the rampart, as a means to improve the traffic. Fortunately, then mayor of Xi’an appealed to the government and council for taking its cultural value seriously, having sympathy heard among the public. As far as I’m concerned, one of the mayor’s counts bangs on the target: it’s easy to rebuild the rampart, but hard to revive the culture.
几十年前，有一群人曾提出拆除城墙，以改善交通。幸运的是，时任西安市长呼吁政府和议会应认真对待其文化价值，在公众中引起了共鸣。在我看来，市长的其中一个观点命中要点：重建城墙容易，复兴文化很难。
What the Xi’an Ancient Rampart used to preserve was the imperial city, and now which is the culture. The rampart, so far, has been involved in many influential activities and memorable celebrations, symbolizing the proud history of Xi’an.
西安古城墙曾经保存的是皇城，现在保存的是文化。到目前为止，这座城墙已经参与了许多有影响力的活动和令人难忘的庆典，象征着西安的骄傲历史。
IV. Tang Costume
四、唐装摄影
During our days in Xi’an, I also took some photos for my wife in Tang costume, in the Qinglong Temple. We recommand renting costume and makeup near the Dayan Pagoda or the Bell Tower for around 200 yuan, before visiting the Qinglong Temple.
在我们在西安的日子里，我还在青龙寺为我的妻子拍摄了一些唐装照片。我们建议在参观青龙寺之前，可以在大雁塔或钟楼附近租借服装和化妆，大约200元。
Although some pottery warriors broken, some stele characters blurred and some bricks on the rampart eroded, the graceful echo of Xi’an will never elapse in the long river of history. All we met reveal the past glory and the present mien of Xi’an, consequently the journey in the ancient city left us an indelible mark.
尽管一些俑兵已残破、一些碑文已模糊、城墙上的一些砖块已侵蚀，但西安的优美回声将永远不会在历史的长河中逝去。我们所遇到的一切都展现了西安的过去荣耀和现在的风采，因此在这座古城的旅程给我们留下了难以磨灭的印记。