Have now been through Xian and seen the famous Terracotta aramy. Very impressive, hundreds of really detailed life like figures and horses. There wasn't much else to see in Xian so we left after a 2 days and came by over night train to Chengdu. We were on a hard sleeper with six bunks to a set and we were on the top (slightly scared I'd fall out in the night but luckily I didn't) The train then arrived half and hour early (maybe some tips for british rail)