Chang'an

"The Chinese government started laying intercity high-speed track in 2005, and today, its network is the longest and most heavily relied upon of any nation’s. Six hours are enough to devour the over 900 miles from Shanghai to Xi’an, the landlocked capital of Shaanxi Province in China’s central northwest, standing on the bones of the imperial city of Chang’an. In the seventh and eighth centuries A.D., this was the center of not only China but the globe — the eastern origin of the trade routes we call the Silk Road and the nexus of a cross-cultural traffic in ideas, technology, art and food that altered the course of history as decisively as the Columbian Exchange eight centuries later. A million people lived within Chang’an’s pounded-earth walls, including travelers and traders from Central, Southeast, South and Northeast Asia and followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism. All the while, Shanghai was a mere fishing village, the jittery megapolis of the future not yet a ripple on the face of time."

"This aerial photo shows the site of the mud slide in Weiziping Village of Luanzhen Township on the outskirts of Chang’an District, Xi’an of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province 12 August 2023.[…] The landslide occurred on Friday night in Weiziping village in Chang’an district shortly after heavy rains and floods in the province. Two houses in Chang’an were washed away and nearby roads, bridges, power supply facilities were damaged."