Settlement in the province spans back to the Neolithic age, and some of China's oldest inhabitant remains were found here, spread along the life-sustaining Yellow River. It was in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 BC), however, that settlement became more widespread, and it was from this time that written records have been recovered. It was after this reign, beginning with the Zhou Dynasty (1100-221 BC), that the province's most famous city, Xi'an, was to take the stage, as dynasties took either the city or "cities" in its locale, as their capital. Xi'an has served as the capital for altogether 13 kingdoms and empires, spanning some 1,100 years. The Han Dynasty (206 BC-220AD) took their capital near Xi'an, and brought a period of prosperity to the province that has rarely been seen since. The Silk Road, that came to prominence then, was to bring not only monetary wealth, but also a range of cultural treasures, from western settlers to Buddhism. This second treasure was to become most significant in Shaanxi, both in its capital Xi'an and in a pretty nearby mountain, Huashan. Xi'an was to be, fairly consistently, China's main political center up until the end of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

From the Tang things went downhill for Shaanxi. Being so close to the hard to control north, the province had long been fairly unstable, and as the less volatile eastern coast became favored by successive emperors, Shaanxi was left behind. Poverty stricken peasants were again to become the norm here, and so it remained for many years. Rebellion and famine left many dead, and it was in such a condition that the communists, harassed into a Long March by a carefully Machiavellian Nationalist Government (Guomindang), were to find the province in late 1936. The "Red Army", under the overall command of a Mr. Mao Zedong, were to set up base in a little known town called Yan'an. From this area, and from a fame derived from practical "Policies for the People" (land redistribution, arming the peasants, protection etc.), the Communist Party of China (CPC) were to start their attempts to overcome both the devilish foreign menace, the Japanese, and the betrayers of patriarchy, the Guomindang.

After the CPC was officially established in Beijing on the first of October 1950, and the weary leaders of the revolution settled themselves comfortably into Zhongnanhai, the new Forbidden City, Yan'an quickly became a Mecca for millions of communist believers. As the years passed, however, this journey of moral obligation for all has become one of interest for only the very motivated. The province looked again to be heading towards obscurity and poverty, until a group of peasants, digging a well in a field near to Xi'an, dropped into what is now considered to be one of China's most important tourist destinations, the terracotta guards of the dead tyrant-emperor Qin Shihuang (Qin Dynasty, 221-206 BC).