Modern Day

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It has been a while since I have written, I’ve been travelling for a bit. The year is now 2016, and I have returned home to my city, Chang’an. Boy has it seen a lot of changed since I was last here. To start with, it is no longer Chang’an, but instead it is now called Xi’an. I never thought they would change the name since I have only known Chang’an, but the name doesn’t really matter as long as the city’s spirit still lives.

I went to my favorite place, the Dayan Pagoda, to see what it looks like and apparently it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1556. Luckily, the Chinese were able to rebuild it and it is now even taller than before (by 8 meters). The inside still gives me a nice warm feeling, even though some of the relics have been destroyed. The temple has become more touristy overtime, but you can still go to pray here. Overall, from what I’ve been told, Buddhism has had some conflicts, like the introduction of a different religion called Christianity, but it seems to have prevailed throughout history - thank Buddha.

My next stop was to the West Market. The market has had the biggest change of anything I remember from Chang’an. The market is now much more cosmopolitan, and there is even a hotel. It’s beautiful! Additionally, there is now a museum in the area to memorialize and commemorate the old market and all the memories which took place here. I can still find some of the good old Persian relics throughout the museum. Unfortunately there is still no map to be found of the city, but maybe I could talk to whoever is in charge and give them my own insight.



As a whole, the city hasn’t changed too much. It has become more modernized with things called “airports” and “taxis”, but the culture is still the same. The arts are still very popular here, and my father’s works are still taught and analyzed. He would have loved to see that - and my memorial outside of a government building, along side my grandfather’s. My home has been converted into a more modern “apartment”, but it still looks lovely. Even the palaces have held up over time. My return home was very warm, and it felt like I had never left.

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