XI'AN, China, Dec. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a news release from the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism: 2026 is just around the corner. If you are still wondering how to make the most of China's 240-hour transit visa-free policy, Shaanxi is calling.

This is a province where history breathes, flavors linger, and traditions shaped over generations continue to glow through the New Year season.

When culture is the theme, Famen Temple in Baoji stands as a natural starting point. Here, Shaanxi's past is not locked behind glass but alive in ritual, architecture, and quiet reverence. On New Year's Eve, 108 bell tolls ring out at midnight, a ritual believed to wash away worries and welcome renewal.

Because honestly, you can't talk about Shaanxi without talking about eating.

In Tongchuan, the flavors are straightforward and deeply comforting. Yaozhou Noodles are hand-rolled, honeycomb-shaped, chewy in the best way, soaked in meat sauce or a clean vegetarian broth. Ganmianpi shows up sour, spicy, and springy, the kind of dish you keep picking at even when you're full. Around Yaowang Mountain, Sun Simiao medicinal cuisine leans into local herbs, nourishing rather than flashy. Simple food. Honest food.

Around Spring Festival, the old streets of Yulin, Shaanxi, are packed. Shoulder to shoulder. Folk songs echo through the air, northern Shaanxi Yangko dances burst into motion, Yulin ballads follow one after another. These aren't staged performances behind velvet ropes. They spill into the street, raw and joyful, carrying the rhythm of the Loess Plateau. It's loud. It's energetic. It's exactly how folk culture is supposed to feel.

And then there's Xi'an, Shaanxi. Of course Xi'an.
But instead of walls and warriors this time, imagine slipping into warm water at Huaqing Palace. The same springs once used by Concubine Yang. Steam rising, skin warming, history suddenly less distant than textbooks make it seem. It's strange, actually, how intimate it feels.

So yes, you could rush through another mega-city. Or you could slow down in Shaanxi. Temples at dawn. Street food at noon. Folk songs at night. History not behind glass, but right there, brushing past you.

Take advantage of China's 240-hour transit visa-free policy and begin your journey through Shaanxi, where every city tells a different story, and the New Year arrives wrapped in history and warmth.