The (Bitter)Sweet Stuff from Xi'an Famous Foods: The Cuisine of Western China, from New York's Favorite Noodle Shop by Jason Wang

Xi’an locals playing chinese chess on the sidewalk.

The muslim quarter lit up in all its touristy glory at night.

A view of the new and the old from the top of the giant wild goose pagoda.

The last time I went to Xi’an, I stood on the south side of the city walls, forty feet above street level. I looked north, into the old city center, and saw a sea of gray rooftops, barely changed from the architecture of my youth. Then I turned around, outward, toward the rest of the world, and was confronted with a wall of skyscrapers just across the moat, the glass windows reflecting the setting sun back at me.