Archaeologists dig deep to revive 2,200 year-old ancient capital

Fifty years of excavation work on the ancient city of Chang'an, situated in the northwestern part of Xi'an, have now passed and archaeologists have been able to map out a clear layout of the former capital of the Han Dynasty.

But there is still much work to be done. Experts, such as Liu Qingzhu, a veteran archaeologist with the Institute of Archeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), insist that only one thousandth of the total ruins has been unearthed.

"Like the ancient site of Pompeii, the study of large-scale ruins requires about 100 or 200 years of excavation," Liu said.