Xianyang in the context of "Shaanxi Province"

Shaanxi is a province in north Northwestern China bordering the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to the west. Shaanxi covers an area of over 205,000 km (79,000 sq mi) with about 37 million people, the 16th-largest in China. Xi'an, which includes the sites of the former capitals Fenghao and Chang'an – is the provincial capital and largest city in Northwest China and also one of the oldest cities in China. It is also the oldest of the Four Ancient Capitals, being the capital for the Western Zhou, Western Han, Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties. Xianyang, which served as the capital of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), is just north across the Wei River. The other prefecture-level cities into which the province is divided are Ankang, Baoji, Hanzhong, Shangluo, Tongchuan, Weinan, Yan'an and Yulin.

The province is geographically divided into three parts, namely Northern (or "Shaanbei"), Central ("Shaanzhong") and Southern Shaanxi (or "Shaannan"). Northern Shaanxi makes up the southeastern portion of the Ordos Basin and mainly comprises the two prefectural cities of Yulin and Yan'an on the northern Loess Plateau, demarcated from the Ordos Desert and the grasslands of Inner Mongolia's Ordos City by the Ming Great Wall. Central Shaanxi is also known as the Guanzhong region, and comprises the drainage basin of lower Wei River east of Mount Liupan and north of the Qinling Mountains, where the majority of Shaanxi's population reside. Southern Shaanxi comprises the three prefectural cities in the edge of the historical Bashu region south of the Qinling Mountains and includes the three mountainous cities of Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo.

The Wei River (Chinese: 渭河; pinyin: Wèi Hé; Wade–Giles: Wei Ho) is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization. In ancient times, such as in the Records of the Grand Historian, the river was called Wei Shui (渭水; Wèishuǐ; 'Wei water').

The total length of the Wei River is 818 km (508 mi), covering a drainage area of 135,000 km (52,000 sq mi). Some of the major tributaries include the Luo River, Jing River, Niutou River, Feng River and the Chishui River. In a direct line, it travels due east for 700 km (430 mi) before draining into the Yellow River at Tongguan County near the tri-provincial boundary between Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan provinces, with a series of major cities along its course including Tianshui, Baoji, Xianyang, Xi'an and Weinan.

The Liupan Mountains (Chinese: 六盘山; pinyin: Lìupán Shān) are a mountain range in northwestern China, located mostly in southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The range marks the southwestern boundary of the Ordos Basin.

Its southern section is known as Mount Long (Chinese: 陇山; pinyin: Lǒng Shān), which strides southeast through eastern Gansu and western Shaanxi province before joining into the Qinling Mountains, giving rise to regional names like "Longxi" (陇西, lit. "west of Mount Long"), "Longdong" (陇东, "east of Mount Long", referring to the Jing River valley basin region around eastern Pingliang, southern Qingyang and northern Xianyang) and "Longnan" (陇南, "south of Mount Long"). It is the western boundary of the Guanzhong Plain, and is also the source of the Qian River (千河), a left tributary of the Wei River that flows through the prefectural city of Baoji.

The Nine Tripod Cauldrons (Chinese: 九鼎; pinyin: Jiǔ Dǐng) were a collection of ding in ancient China that were viewed as symbols of the authority given to the ruler by the Mandate of Heaven. According to its origin narrative, they were cast by Yu the Great of the Xia dynasty.

At the time of the Shang dynasty during the 2nd millennium BCE, the tripod cauldrons came to symbolize the power and authority of the ruling dynasty with strict regulations imposed as to their use. Members of the scholarly gentry class were permitted to use one or three cauldrons; the ministers of state (大夫, dàfū) five; the vassal lords seven; and only the sovereign Son of Heaven was entitled to use nine. The use of the nine tripod cauldrons to offer ritual sacrifices to the ancestors from heaven and earth was a major ceremonial occasion so that by natural progression the ding came to symbolize national political power and later to be regarded as a National Treasure. Sources state that two years after the fall of the Zhou dynasty at the hands of what would become the Qin dynasty the nine tripod cauldrons were taken from the Zhou royal palace and moved westward to the Qin capital at Xianyang. However, by the time Qin Shi Huang had eliminated the other six Warring States to become the first emperor of China in 221 BCE, the whereabouts of the nine tripod cauldrons were unknown. Sima Qian records in his Records of the Grand Historian that they were lost in the Si River to where Qin Shi Huang later dispatched a thousand men to search for the cauldrons to no avail.

Ban Biao (Chinese: 班彪; pinyin: Bān Biāo; Wade–Giles: Pan Piao, 3–54 CE), courtesy name (Chinese: 叔皮; pinyin: Shūpí; Wade–Giles: Shu-P'i), was a Chinese historian and politician born in what is now Xianyang, Shaanxi during the Han dynasty. He was the nephew of Consort Ban, a famous poet and concubine to Emperor Cheng.

Ban Biao began the Book of Han, which was completed by his son, Ban Gu and daughter Ban Zhao while their brother Ban Chao was a famous general who contributed his stories to expand the Book of Han. Ban Biao wrote an essay titled Treatise on the Mandate of Kings (王命論), which was influential on the Chinese concept of sovereignty and is included in Wenxuan.

Qian County (乾县; Qián Xiàn) or Qianxian is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xianyang, in the central part of Shaanxi province, China.

Lintong District (Chinese: 临潼区; pinyin: Líntóng Qū), formerly Lintong County, is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, Northwest China. The district was approved to establish from the former Lintong County (临潼县) by the Chinese State Council on June 25, 1997. The Terracotta Army and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was discovered in March 1974 near this district. The district borders the prefecture-level cities of Xianyang to the northwest and Weinan to the east, Gaoling County to the northeast, Baqiao District to the southeast, Lianhu and Xincheng Districts to the south, and Chang'an District to the southwest.

Artifacts from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, can be viewed at the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum (秦始皇帝陵博物院) in Lintong District.

The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang (Chinese: 秦始皇陵; pinyin: Qínshǐhuáng Líng) is a tomb complex constructed for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Chinese Qin dynasty. It is located in modern-day Lintong District in Xi'an, Shaanxi. It was constructed over 38 years from 246 to 208 BC, and is situated underneath a 76-metre-tall (249 ft) tomb mound shaped like a truncated pyramid. The layout of the mausoleum is modeled on the layout of Xianyang, the capital of the Qin dynasty, which was divided into inner and outer cities. The circumference of the inner city is 2.5 km (1.6 mi) and the outer is 6.3 km (3.9 mi). The tomb is located in the southwest of the inner city and faces east. The main tomb chamber housing the coffin and burial artifacts is the core of the architectural complex of the mausoleum.

The tomb itself has not yet been excavated. Archaeological explorations currently concentrate on various sites of the extensive necropolis surrounding the tomb, including the Terracotta Army to the east of the tomb mound. The Terracotta Army served as a garrison to the mausoleum and has yet to be completely excavated.