Xian Terracotta Warriors

With all the big adventures I've had so far, in China, it hardly seems possible that there can still be more to awe and amaze me, but today was another such day.

Terracotta Warriors

This morning was completely dedicated to visiting the world-famous Terracotta Warriors of Xian. Here I've shown a picture of part of the entire arena (which is large enough to house three soccer fields), just to give you an idea of the immensity of this place.

Okay my ears are about to blow off my head, I've learned so much about Chinese history today, but in a nutshell, the first emperor of the Qin (pronounced Chin) Dynasty did many great things for China. He was the first emperor to unify the separate states into one country. He also standardized the Chinese language, weights, measurements and currency. Furthermore he ordered all the walls of the original six states making up China, linked to form the Great Wall.

However, he was a bit of a megalomaniac, and among using and abusing his manpower (on building the wall, forming his armies, and having them search for the source of eternal life), he spent much of his national income building his "underground palace" which is the Chinese-ism for tomb.

In addition to the actual tomb he built many surrounding memorials, etc., including a great memorial battlefield, which is now the Terracotta Warriors pit. It is now said now that you can basically walk anywhere in Xian, and likely find historical items lying on the ground.

Anyway, shortly after his death, the peasants formed a giant uprising against the out of control harshess of his rule (and his son's rule) and staged a giant revolt. They found the underground pit of the terracotta warriors and smashed every single statue, stealing the weapons the figures carried for their own uprising. Here you can still see some of the warriors that have not yet been righted.

Every single statue you see in the pit (standing or lying down) has been refurbished by seasoned archaeologists, using the original clay of the period to cover the breaks and holes. None of the warriors were found whole. Plus in parts of the pit, you can see the original burn marks of where the peasants burned parts of the pit.

Anyway, this pit was only rediscovered in the mid-seventies by farmers digging a well. They found a piece of a statue and turned it over to the government. That piece was just one head of what is now this internationally famous dig site.

By the way, the farmers were each given 6 yuan (less than $1) for finding the pit. Now, though, the one farmer works at the museum signing autographs in the official Museum Catalog. A little cheesy, no? However, I guess it's better than farming, even if he is the whole reason the catalog sells. By the way, yes I did buy one of the catalogs and had to pay extra to have my picture taken with the guy. But heck, I look at it this way, I paid him more for my photo, than the Chinese government paid him for finding the pit. :)

Xian Noodles

By the way, did I mention that one of the specialties of the area is home-made noodles? Lunch today, was in the Xian Terracotta Museum area.

In addition to having two made-to-order dishes, completed by active noodle chefs, the restaurant placed a ton of other great dishes in front of me, including a dried bean curd and garlic dish that was simply fabulous.

But other than the bean curd (which I finished) I hardly touched the rest of my lunch, as I spent most of my eating energy consuming the home made noodles and pork sauce and the homemade noodles in beef soup. Here you can see one of the noodle chefs hard at work. The noodles (as well as a salad bar and a dessert bar, neither of which I even tried) were all you can eat, so I'm not even sure why the restaurant bothered putting down five other dishes.

Xian City

Originally my schedule called for an early departure tomorrow morning to Guilin, but since I'm traveling off season, there are no early morning flights to be had, which means an extra half-day in Xian. As a result we spent the afternoon visiting some more of the historic aspects of Xian, including the city wall. This was a lovely area, surrounded by red lanterns, and very peaceful. It was a gorgeous day to watch people flying kites in the plaza below.

After the city wall, we visited the Goose Pagoda, which includes a type of "Art Park" surrounding the Pagoda. In each of the historic buildings there is a different kind of artist, with displays ranging from papercuttings, to waterpaintings to wood carvings. I managed to resist spending any money here, except for the 5 yuan (50 cents) I needed to ring this bell and make a wish. I figured 50 cents was a healty investment into my wish for a rich husband.

After the tour of the city, I actually had time to rest (joy!) at the hotel, before the commencement of our evening activities. I slept the whole time, and didn't even bother to check my emails. (Emails didn't matter so much anyway, as my outgoing emails weren't working here anyway. China has these very strong internet censors and heaven knows what will and won't be readable. None of my blog entries are readable to me, so I'm just hoping everything comes across okay.)

Tang Dynasty Performance

Tonight we enjoyed a VERY delightful dinner show which included an hour-long traditional Tang Dynasty show. The Tang Dynasty in China was one of the most prosperous (and might I saw one of my favorites, as the larger size person was looked upon favorably. This is the time that Buddhism was introduced into China, which is why most of the Chinese Buddhas are the plus size beauties they are.)

Anyway, the show had such beautiful costumes, dances. One segment featured "plucked string instruments" and before seeing this part of the show, my only thought was "just kill me now." With my most due respect to the Japanese Koto and the Korean Gayageum, this is not my most favorite form of Asian music.

However the music was delightfully light and lively, I belive it was called something like "Eternal Spring," and included pan pipe music played by a most androgynous male, who of course stole the show.

Late Evening Massage

We returned back to the hotel around 11:00 pm, and after a brief time trying to get my email to work, I ventured out into the mean streets of Xian in search of a foot massage. For $20 I enjoyed a two-hour accupressure massage with one-hour dedicated to my feet and another hour dedicated to the whole rest of me. Heaven!

I was ensconced in my own little private room, got to watch Chinese soap operas the whole time (had no idea what the heck was going on, but when the woman was shot in the back on the bridge, I was fully engrossed), sipped my dollar beer and let massage boy take over.

Is anyone else sensing a theme to my Asia trip? Massages, beer, food and stair climbing. Nearly in that order.

Got home after 1:30, sipped a little more beer, and dozed off soon thereafter. Not too worried about the time, as tomorrow's going to be an easy day.