Dynasties and Terracotta Warriors

This is why people come to Xi’an.  In the early 1970’s a local farmer digging for a well, unearthed remnants of the first Qin Emperor’s tomb – he found the Terracotta Army…

Though much cheaper, it’s always a bit of an adventure to get there independently.  A short taxi ride took us to the busy railway station.  From there, we navigated through the array of buses and misdirections from tour hawkers, until we found bus 306.  We were in business, and one hour later we hurried through the gate and into pit 1 before the hordes of tour groups would arrive.

The hall, about the size of a football stadium, covered row after row of the amazing life-size and life-like warriors in ready formation pose.  With nearly 6000 distinctive faces, 2200-year history stared back.  Complete with horses, chariots, and a vast layout of burial pits, the scope and immensity of the project leaves one dumbfounded.  Seven hundred thousand people labored forty years!  This must be on par with seeing the Egyptian pyramids.

The next day we ventured 45 km the other way, again by public bus -- this time to see the tomb of Emperor Han Jinling.  The site has been barely excavated, but its thousands of figurines of armies, live-stock, and objects of daily life, all in detailed miniature, are no less impressive than the more renowned Terracotta Army.  The museum actually sits atop the excavated pits, and takes you into the ground, behind glass panels. 

The Shaanxi museum in the city was free, but displayed priceless history of the ancient Chinese.  The fantastic glazed pots, bronze tripods, weapons, and art objects amaze more when considering some of them are 5000 years old…

Otherwise, Xi’an is a pleasant city.  It’s thoroughly modern with huge edifices all around, fairly convenient, and there isn’t much of the throaty spitting.  In the morning, prior to opening, groups of store employees line up in front of the doors and perform calisthenics in unison.  The guards also, but their kung fu moves seem half-hearted and sloppy…   The taxis are easy to flag down and cost little, about US 0.15 cents per km, though the driving can be nerve-wracking.  

Nights were very cold, but the food hearty. Steamed dumplings and Tsingtao beer with my father was good.  We walked nearly nightly to the lively Muslim Quarter for the great snacks – freshly roasted chestnuts, black rice-meal donuts, steamed rice cakes on a stick, and a dinner of spicy roast lamb, noodles, and bread pancakes.  A sad experience is the beggars walking around with a bowl and chopsticks, willing to eat the leftover food right off your plate.  My Dad offered a Coke go with it.  At first he declined, but he changed his mind, quickly turning around and gulping it down.  Who can resist a Coke?

See the pictures