Kevin Gu · Books
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Xi'an, Day Zero

A First-Timer's Guide to the Walls You'll Actually Hit

By Kevin Gu

A first-timer's guide to Xi'an, a city with one real wall and plenty of invisible ones: the paperwork at Xianyang airport, street stalls that only take phone payments, the Terracotta Army, the history museum and Mount Hua all booked by passport, the best sights an hour out of town, and noodle menus with no English.

Each chapter explains what stands in the way and how to get past it, then tells the story behind the warriors, the Ming ramparts, the Muslim Quarter and the Tang pagodas, with day trips by rail and car to Mount Hua, Luoyang and the emperors' tombs, and the facts checked for travel in 2026 and 2027.

This edition is written for readers from the United States and Canada, with their entry rules, embassy contacts and customs allowances.

Coming soon to ebook stores

Contents

I — Before the Wheels Touch Down

  1. Getting to Xi'an: Fly In, Connect, or Ride the Train from Beijing and Shanghai
  2. The Paperwork Wall: Visa-Free, Transit, and the Xianyang Arrival
  3. The Cashless Wall: Paying in a City of Street Stalls
  4. The Connectivity Wall: eSIM, VPN, Maps and Translation

II — The First 48 Hours

  1. The Booking Wall: Warriors, Museums and the Mountain
  2. The Transit Wall: Airport Line, Metro, Buses, DiDi and the Two Stations
  3. Choosing a Bed: Inside the Wall, by the Pagoda, or Near the Station

III — The Sights: The Story First, Then the Strategy

  1. The Terracotta Army and Huaqing Palace: One Day East of the City
  2. The Wall Itself: Walking and Cycling Xi'an's Ming Ramparts
  3. Bell, Drum and the Muslim Quarter: Xi'an's Old Center
  4. Museums as Time Machines: One Dynasty, One Room
  5. Tang Xi'an After Dark: The Pagoda, the Never-Sleeping City and the Hanfu Crowd

IV — Eating Without Fear

  1. The Noodle Map: Biangbiang, Paomo and the Rest of Shaanxi on One Table
  2. Eating Halal, Eating Out: Rules, Etiquette and the Streets Locals Use

V — The Chapters No One Else Wrote

  1. Mount Hua: Cable Cars, Night Climbs and the Plank Walk
  2. Day Trips by High-Speed Rail: Luoyang, Pingyao, Yan'an and Hancheng
  3. The Emperors' Valley by Car: Qianling, Maoling, Hanyangling and Famen Temple
  4. Smog, 40°C and Golden Week: Planning Around Xi'an's Weather and Crowds
  5. Xi'an With Kids, With Parents, With Wheels
  6. West from Here: Xi'an as the Silk Road Gate

VI — Leaving Well

  1. Shopping That Isn't a Jade Factory, and Routes for 2, 3 and 5 Days

Appendices

  1. Phrasebook by Situation, Not by Grammar
  2. Xi'an in Brief: Thirteen Dynasties on One Page
  3. Practical A–Z
  4. Place Names in Characters and Pinyin

About the Author

Kevin Gu was born in 1977 in Anqing, in China's Anhui province, where he grew up, and has since worked in Chengdu, Fuzhou, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai. He now lives in Jiaxing, in Zhejiang province.

He is a shareware developer and a freelance writer. This book grew out of a local's knowledge and experience of the country, and was written with the help of online information and AI tools, which were also used to translate it into its other editions.