Chang'an · 750 AD
What you're walking through
In 750 AD, Chang'an, today's Xi'an, was the capital of Tang China and, with about a million people, one of the largest cities in the world. It was laid out as a vast grid: avenues divided it into more than a hundred walled wards, whose gates were shut at night, and the main avenue, running north to the gate of the Imperial City, was about 150 m wide.
Merchants came along the Silk Road from Central Asia, Persia and beyond to the city's two great markets, East and West. Buddhism flourished: at the Da Ci'en monastery stood the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, built to keep the scriptures the monk Xuanzang had brought back from India, and rebuilt in brick for Empress Wu Zetian in 704.
Who lives here
Chang'an man
A round-collared robe with a belt, and a black cloth cap · Chang'an had about a million people
Chang'an was the capital of the Tang empire and the eastern end of the Silk Road. Officials, merchants, monks and students came from all over Asia, and Sogdians, Persians, Turks, Koreans and Japanese lived in the city alongside the Chinese.
Chang'an woman
A high-waisted skirt, a short jacket and a long shawl · well-off Tang women rode horses
Tang women had more freedom than Chinese women would have for centuries after: they went out to the markets and festivals, rode horses, and some wore men's clothes or Central Asian fashions. Wu Zetian, who paid for the pagoda's rebuilding, ruled as China's only woman emperor.
Horse
Ridden by officials, soldiers and the well-off · the Tang court loved polo
The best horses came from the steppe and Central Asia, and were so prized that Tang artists painted them, and potters made glazed figures of them to be buried with their owners.
Donkey
About 1.2 m at the shoulder · the pack animal of farms, roads and markets
Donkeys and mules carried firewood, grain and the farms' produce into town, and goods to and from the markets and harbours.
Buddhist monk
A shaved head and a plain robe · the pagoda was built for the scriptures Xuanzang brought from India
Buddhism was at its height in Tang China, and Chang'an had over a hundred monasteries. At this one, the Da Ci'en, the monk Xuanzang translated the Buddhist books he had carried home from his sixteen-year journey to India.
The city is drawn far smaller than it was: the real Chang'an was nearly 10 km across, its main avenue was twice as wide, and each ward was the size of a small town. Historians disagree on how many storeys the pagoda had at this time; this one has seven, as it does today. The people and their period clothing are stylized approximations.
How to walk
Press Start walking above. WA SD or the arrow keys move you, the mouse looks around, hold Shift with a movement key to run at 3× walking speed, and Space jumps. Look at someone to see who they are. Esc pauses, and M turns the sound on or off. You're invisible: nobody here can see you.
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