DATING back 630 years, Xi'an's city wall offers visitors a fine vantage point as they zoom around its ramparts on bicycles. And as a proud civic symbol, it's a favorite spot for lovers to take a stroll, while children play in its shadow. Hege Tollerud pays a visit.

Bathed in glorious spring sunshine - much welcome after a long winter - our full circle around the Xi'an city walls was an unforgettable experience.

Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province in northwestern China, boasts a history of more than 3,100 years. Named Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), it is one of the world's four great ancient capitals. And with all due respect to Athens, Rome and Cairo - all I cared about right now was this center of the origins of Chinese ancient civilization, situated by the Yellow River estuary in the mid-western region of the country.

Or rather, its city wall was at the center of my attention.

Cycling and running

At more than 630 years old, Xi'an city wall is the most integrated and complete ancient city wall in China, still serving to divide the city into the inner, old city and the outer part. After catching a glimpse of it when driving through on arrival night, I had to wait until the next morning, check out a row of street stalls selling antiques along the inside of the eastern part of the wall, and pay the 40 yuan (US$6.5) admission fee (it will increase to 54 from July), before climbing up to get a closer encounter with this impressive construction.

As the Xi'an city wall links around the inner city entirely, it is possible to walk the whole distance without any climbing down and up interruptions. Or cycle. To be fair, it adds up to just under 14 kilometers in total, so taking advantage of the excellent bicycle hire service for part of the round-trip is nothing to be embarrassed about. Rather, it's a must - especially because the option of renting a tandem with a friend makes it twice the fun.

It had been a long time since I had been on a bicycle, and for a tandem it was an exiting first that resulted in a lot of laughter to begin with. But, off we went, and it soon felt like the most natural thing in the world. (How I felt the following day is an entirely different story, however...)

There are bicycle stations near all the main gates, and you can pick up and return at different ones. The price is 40 yuan for a single bike (and a 200 yuan deposit), 80 for a tandem, giving you 100 minutes - which should be enough time to get you all the way around! There are also golf carts that can take you around. We walked about half and cycled about half - which at a leisurely speed took about 3-4 hours in total. This included an ice-cream break, and almost zigzagging throughout, as we wanted to see everything.

If you want to go faster, sign up for the Xi'an City Wall International Half Marathon! The run has taken place in early November every year since 1993, and you can also opt for the shorter versions at 13, 7 or 5km, if you don't fancy running too far.

There are, in general, a lot of activities on and around the city wall all year long. The marathon is one of the main events, with more than 30,000 runners for 50 countries taking part last year.

The annual Lantern Fair in January-February also attracts the crowds, and when we were exploring the wall, big preparations were under way for the Kite Festival, offering about everything you can (and cannot) imagine doing with a kite!

Green spaces

We were immediately struck by how green it was everywhere, with parks and green spaces along the walls more or less on both sides all the way around.

Inside the wall was where the emperor lived, as Xi'an served as the capital during 13 dynasties, between the 11th century BC and the 10th century AD. Just around the city wall was the city wall garden and a city river, which was used as a defense of the city.

The Xi'an city wall is rectangular in shape. According to the stone tablets by the gates, it is 10-12 meters high, 12-14 meters wide at the top and 15-18 at the bottom, it stretches 4,256 meters from east to west and 2,078 from north to south, and has an outer perimeter of almost 14km. If you think it is grand today, imagine what it was like during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), when the area enclosed by the city walls was apparently as much as seven times bigger.

The city wall as seen today was constructed on the foundations of the city walls from the Sui (AD 581-618) and Tang dynasties. Originally, when built between 1370 and 1378, under Ming Emperor Hongwu, the wall was made of rammed earth, with gates in all four directions. A brick construction was later raised under Ming Emperor Longqing, and when Emperor Chongzhen reigned, crescent fortifications, portcullis towers and the outer towns surrounding the gates in the south, north and west were added. Many improvements and restoration projects were carried out during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and additions made that created the base for the pattern of the wall that we can see today.

In total, the Xi'an city wall has 18 gates, not all always available to the public, and 98 ramparts, one every 120 meters, extending from the wall to make it easier for soldiers to see and defend. In each corner of the wall there are watchtowers. The one in the southwestern different from the other three - which are all square - by virtue of being round.

Since 1961, the Xi'an city wall has been under state protection as a key cultural relic unit. During more recent years of restoration, in the 1980s, the government issued regulations that buildings inside the city wall must be built below the height of the wall, in order to protect the heritage and retain the flavor of the old, ancient city.

According to my boyfriend, one of the most fascinating things about the journey on the wall was "to see the old architecture on the one side and the new on the other, with the wall a natural part of the city landscape in the middle of it all."

The Silk Road

These days, according to a friend of mine from Xi'an, people who live just under the city wall are all very proud of it. Children grow up playing around it, and the city wall garden is where you can sense the real local life of Xi'an people. In the morning, they exercise in the gardens around the city wall, some practicing taichi, some playing diabolo or kongzhu in Chinese. You can also hear the authentic qinqiang, the local opera performed by Shaanxi people. It is also a good place for lovers to have a walk. "You can see the lichen after rainy days, and kind of sense the vitality of the ancient wall," my friend said.

Along the city walls there are several gates, with the main ones being Changle - or Eternal Joy - in the east, Anding - or Harmony Peace - in the west, Anyuan - or Forever Harmony - in the north and in the south, Yongning - or Eternal Peace. All the main gates have three towers, positioned to serve different purposes in defending.

The South Gate is the eastern starting and finishing point of the Silk Road, and hence the most beautifully decorated and famous one.

In ancient times Xi'an, or Chang'an, was the oriental cultural center of the Silk Road, and a vibrant and cosmopolitan city before any other in the Middle Kingdom.

These days, the South Gate square is often used by the provincial government for important official events and greetings, and there are regular performances, like the daily Gate Opening Ceremony, the Warrior Parade and acrobatics shows.

'Scottish' bar

Moving on westward along the southern part of the wall, we spotted a number of lovely rooftop terraces, made for lazy days in the sun.

After doing full circle and descending back down from the wall, with feet starting to ache and an urgent need for some food and drink, we climbed into a little tuk-tuk and returned to a place called Edinburgh - a charming cafe/bar on Shuncheng Xixiang, facing the wall.

Being certain they'd have menus in English, or at least pictures, at a "Scottish" bar was a mistake. However, we managed to order a couple of beers and some pistachios to get the blood sugar back up enough to find our way to nearby Defu Xiang, a street close to the South Gate, lined with restaurants and bars. Our favorite was Tribe, with a bit of an ethnic theme, relaxed atmosphere and decent music.

Another recommended area for food in Xi'an is the Muslim quarter, boasting delicious food and snacks to sample, just next to the Bell Tower Square. Mutton soup with bread, BBQ, small rice cakes - I could go on …