Xi-an

The terracotta warriors of Xi'an, China

Three thousand-year-old Xi'an was the capital of China throughout 11 dynasties (until the Mongols moved the seat of power to Dadu, now called Beijing), and still retains its city walls, pagodas, temples.

But those aren't what draw the crowds.

Just outside town excavations begun in 1974, when peasants digging a well ran into something interesting, continue to unearth more companions to an army already more than 8,000 strong and composed of life-sized terracotta statues, 2,000-year-old ranks of long-buried warriors and horses guarding the tomb of emperor Qin Shihuang