After a mediocre dinner and a wonderful breakfast, we headed to the terracotta warrior factory (more shopping!) to learn how the warriors were made. The sales person ("tour guide") advised us that the replicas are made the exact same way as the originals were made in 220 BC, with clay from the site, molded by hand, fired for 3 days, etc., etc.
We decided that a General would make great yard decor, so we purchased a full-size General for our yard, a half-sized one for mom and dad (don’t tell it’s a surprise thank you for house/dog sitting at the last minute), and a quarter-sized one for Roger’s office.
ROGER WITH OUR TERRA COTTA GENERAL:
We finished shopping and went to the museum – the site where the Terracotta Warriors were discovered. The site was discovered in 1974 by four farmers (peasants) who were digging a well a few miles from the burial mound of Emperor Qin ("chin") Shi Huang, and uncovered some pottery. The pottery caught the attention of archeologists, who immediately began coming to Xian in droves to study and to extend the digs.
I’m SURE you remember – Emperor Qin is the guy who first united China in 220 BC. Apparently, people at that time believed that, when the died, they went on to another life, so the Emperor needed to take with him warriors, weapons, jewelry, etc., etc, for his next life. The result is that Emperors spent a huge amount of time planning their burial sites. The site would include not only a mausoleum (buried underneath the large mounds) but also a network of underground vaults, with warriors, riches, tokens, omens, etc., etc.
The Army of Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xian is famous because of its scale – there are 8,000 life-sized terracotta warriors in battle formation, along with 100+ chariots (pulled by 4 horses each), and 30,000 weapons. An on-site museum has been built over three of the pits where the warriors were discovered. The covered pits are the size of giant airport hangars – it is quite an awesome sight!
One amazing thing about the terracotta warriors is that each one is unique – not just facial features, but clothing and size/build are unique to each warrior! It’s hard to comprehend the number of man-hours that must have been required to make 8,000 completely unique, life-sized warriors!
Roger and I learned that Emperor Qin was a very harsh ruler, and he only ruled for a few years. When he was de-throned, the peasants broke into the vaults, stole many of the weapons and valuables, smashed many of the warriors and horses, and burned the vaults.
THE MAIN PIT OF THE TERRA COTTA WARRIORS:
THE MAIN PIT IS HUGE!
A CLOSE UP -- YOU CAN SEE THAT EACH FIGURE IS UNIQUE:
THIS IS WHAT THE WARRIORS LOOKED LIKE WHEN FOUND -- CAN YOU IMAGINE PIECING THEM TOGETHER?
THIS IS WHERE THEY MOVE THE WARRIORS AND ASSEMBLE THEM...
IN FRONT OF THE ASSEMBLY AREA:
We spent quite a long time admiring the terracotta warriors, then headed back to the city. On the way, Holly pointed out caves where people still live today – yes, caves! It was hard to comprehend, coming from a 5-star hotel, but farmers/peasants outside the city still live in extremely primitive conditions.
We returned to the city, to see the ancient City Wall. Xian is one of only two cities in China with intact surrounding walls. It is 40 feet tall and 46 feet wide at the top! It is 8.5 miles long, encircling the Old City. Every 500 feet, there is a rampart with a sentry building, so the guards could fend off anyone seeking to climb the wall. The ramparts are 500 feet apart because the range of an arrow was about 250 feet – so no part of the wall was unprotected.
In ancient times, a moat surrounded the wall. Nowadays, there is very nice, landscaped park around the base of the exterior walls, and the moat is still intact!
XIAN CITY WALL:
ROGER'S ARTISTIC PHOTO ON TOP THE XIAN CITY WALL:
After strolling along the ancient city wall, we returned to the hotel and had a leisurely evening -- Roger and I wandered around "new town" Xian and took it easy -- it was perfect!
OUR HOTEL:
The next day, we visited Big Wild Goose Pagoda – one of the most famous Buddhist pagodas in China. It was built in 589 AD to collect Buddhist scriptures, and for scriptures that Tripitaka brought back from his epic journey to India to be painstakingly translated into Chinese (Tripitaka is apparently quite famous – he traveled to India, studied Buddhism there for 17 years, and then returned to China with a bunch of important scriptures to be translated into Chinese).
The Temple has several large halls with massive murals depicting Tripitaka’s epic journey to India and back home. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was an architectural marvel in its time. It was built with layers of bricks but without any cement in between. Its style is very simple, and it serves as a good example of Chinese traditional architecture.
BIG WILD GOOSE PAGODA
After Big Wild Goose Pagoda, we went to the "Outside Pits Exhibition Hall" of the Mausoleum of Emperor Han (conveniently located on the way to the airport). The outside pits exhibition hall is really interesting – it is the first underground museum in China.
When you enter the exhibition hall, you put have to put booties on your shoes, and then you walk down, down, down into a very dark exhibition hallways. At first, it seems quite weird – until you realize that the walkways run over and next to the excavated pits. So, instead of standing on a platform a fair distance above the items (like at the Qin Terracotta Warriors), you are suspended on a glass floor directly over or next to the pits, with the booties keeping your shoes from scratching up the glass floors. The enables you to get very close, and get a much better look at the relics.
The Han figures are quite small – about one-tenth the size of the Qin Terra Cotta Warriors – but they are much more varied, with female warriors, servants, singers and dancers. The figures are armless (the arms were made of wood and rotted off ages ago), and clothes-less (the archaeologists report that the clothing was silk and also rotted years ago).
We exited the underground museum, and headed to the airport for our next destination... LIJIANG. Before taking you to Lijiang, here's a few random photos...
ROGER HAD TO TAKE PHOTOS OF THIS!
ROGER AT THE AIRPORT, WAITING FOR THE FLIGHT TO LIJIANG...
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