Northwest China's Xi'an plays pivotal role in boosting ancient exchanges with outside world

Xi'an, the capital city of what is now northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has played a pivotal role in facilitating China's exchanges with the rest of the world through the ancient Silk Road.

The city, which was called Chang'an in ancient China, served as the starting point of the Silk Road. Chang'an was the capital city of several ancient Chinese dynasties, including the Western Han and the Tang, from 202 BC to AD 907.

Stepping out of the Xi'an Railway Station, one will encounter the colossal ruins of the Danfeng Gate of the Daming Palace. This gate was the national gateway of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Over 1,300 years ago, envoys from all nations from every corner of the world would pass through this very gate to pay homage to what was then the world's most powerful empire.

In Istanbul, the Topkapi Palace Museum, built in 1478, was the heart of the Ottoman Empire.

As camel bells echoed across deserts from Chang'an and merchant ships sailed oceans from east China's Quanzhou City, treasures of civilization from ancient China ultimately settled within this museum.

Its collections include vast numbers of Chinese paintings, calligraphy, and precious gold and silver artifacts, among them 12,000 pieces of Chinese porcelain.

At the Topkapi Palace Museum, these porcelain wares now stand on display for the world, telling a history of civilizational exchange spanning Eurasia.

Northwest China's Xi'an plays pivotal role in boosting ancient exchanges with outside world

Northwest China's Xi'an plays pivotal role in boosting ancient exchanges with outside world

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight