Terracotta Warriors under reconstruction in the largest of three satellite tombs that have been uncovered. All the tombs were ransacked, with the warriors destroyed and there weapons stolen, during an uprising after the emperors death.
Ollie and I riding early versions of the mechanical bull... they weren't mechanical... weren't even on rockers... and actually weren't suppose to be rode.
The formations of reconstructed warriors as they were initially laid out. Each hall was covered with wooden beams and buried. They were buried with the Emperor in 210 BC and were not rediscovered until 1974 by a local farmer, who now has a career signing autographs at the exhibit.
The bell tower in the center of Xians walled city.
North face of the old city wall, which was first built in 194 BC and rebuilt in the 14th century. Each of the four sides of the wall has a different animal on the lantern posts. Here you can see the west (Dragon) and north (Jaguar). Xian was the first capital of unified China and has one of the only preserved city walls.
Despite a long and prestigious history as a capital and eastern hub of the Silk Road, modern Xian’s history is a little more like that of Detroit. It became an industrial capital with an ugly skyline and demographically misbalanced with a large male population filling these blue-collar positions. Crime was high, work was limited and undesirable, and women fled the city for education and hopes of marrying out. However, it has had somewhat of a renaissance since China has opened its borders for tourism, the Terracotta Warriors were discovered just outside the city in 1974, and universities have been established in the city. The population is still predominantly young men, and our local guide, Jimmy, uses his podium to encourage the young women in the group to stay and marry a local (preferably him). Our primary guide, Tracy, warned us petty crime is still a problem, and Xi’an is where tourists are most likely to be robbed on their trip across China. As if to highlight the fact, one of the girls in our group nearly had her camera stolen from her bag as she boarded a bus. Once we got beyond the bad press, the city was actually quite charming. We started our visit with a tour around the 12 km wall around the center of the city. The wall has entrances in the four cardinal directions and at the southern entrance, you can rent bikes to ride around the circumference. We rented several tandem bikes and took a leisurely ride around stopping at each of the four corners as well as the four gates to take pictures. The city, both within the wall and outside it, was a mix of eastern and western styles of architecture. A lot of the eastern style buildings were actually the newer buildings and part of the city’s attempt to re-establish some of it’s roots, while the western architecture is mostly industrial/functional structures that serve as more of an eyesore on the skyline. I had expected the city within the walls to be well-preserved example ancient Chinese cities, but it was very modern, except for a few preserved pagodas, drum and bell towers, and most of the efforts to re-build in eastern styles. I was also surprised to find that one of the preserved districts within the cities walls was a Islamic district, which was established by the traders that traveled the Silk Road from the Middle East to Xian. After biking the wall, I wondered through an art district at the south gate and then hopped on a bus, which should have brought me back to the hotel. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the road, and therefore caught the bus going in the opposite direction. I assumed it traveled a loop and I’d just ride it around to see the city and eventually make it back to the hotel. Eventually, I did make it back to the hotel. However, first, the bus drove to the southern end of town and terminated at a bus depot, where I had to transfer and pay a second fare to get back to the city center. If I had not spent the afternoon joy riding the local transit, I would have liked to explore the parks/gardens along the remnants of the moat that once surrounded the city wall, which I had noticed earlier when we were on the wall. On our second day in Xian, we took a tour out to the Terracotta Warriors. This is when we met Jimmy, our local guide and he did a great job talking up the town, all its tourist attractions, and downplaying any negative press. The warriors were impressive, but rather than going there directly, we had to stop at one of the many terracotta gift emporiums along the way. This was common on tours and I am sure the guides get some kickbacks for our stop and purchases. At any rate, the emporium did have some cool mini-cotta warriors and headless warriors to stand behind for picture ops.
The exhibit is broken up into several buildings. The largest is around 200 meters long and 100 meters wide, and has the restored formations at the front and many of the terrocotta warriors that are being restored toward the back. A smaller building has a headquarters element where a Terracotta General and several chariots and horses were found. Then there is another large building which has the formations partially uncovered but most have the remains of the old wooden beams, which are now bowed, still covering the halls, and the few that are uncovered show the ruined remains littering the halls, as they were found. And lastly there is a museum with a giant terracotta marionette, standing about 2o feet tall that was used in show to promote the exhibit.
Though the vast formations of uncovered and restored warriors are impressive, they represent only a fraction of the entire army of statues, which is estimated to include over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 670 horses, and it is only a fraction of the larger tomb or the first Emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang. The entire tomb, which has actually never been fully excavated is truly and kingdom taken to the grave. Around 205 BC, only a few years after the Emperor died, most of his terracotta army was destroyed in a revolt. The tombs were set on fire and reportedly burned for five months! Ironically, the Emperor's son, who had ascended the throne, was killed with weapons taken from the terracotta soldiers when the tombs were raided.
After the revolt, the tombs location was lost to history until 1974, when a farmer digging a well rediscovered them. In the exhibit hall with the restored formations of soldiers, you can see how close others were to discovering the tombs. Some graves, established long after the Emperor’s, were uncovered along with the warriors and are visible in the wall between the formations. The farmer that did uncover the tomb was rewarded by the state for the find and probably to buy the land, and now he spends his days signing autographs rather than tending fields.
In the evening, our group celebrated one of the member’s birthday at a local restaurant and a few pubs. The dinner was accompanied multiple rounds of rice wine and by the end of the evening we were planning the birthday girl’s marriage to a local boy at the neighboring table and riding stilt horses along the wall. We later learned that the Chinese writing on the front of the horses said, ‘Do not ride.’ The birthday girl also had a huge bowl of long noodles, which is a birthday tradition in China in which the long noodles represent a wish for long life. This of course came after a huge meal and she did not last long against the long noodles. After dinner, we moved the party to a local nightclub, where the girls undressed the bartenders, and we danced on the bar and spent half the evening behind the bar until the place closed.
For our last day in Xian, we spent a few hours at the museum and a city park with both the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, and China’s largest fountain. Unfortunately, we missed seeing the cities Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, as well as the fountain’s daily show set to lights and music. The Pagodas are thousands of years old and one of them is famous because an earthquake cracked it in half, and years later, another earthquake repaired the crack! Sadly, I learned this after my visit, so I did not get to see the crack that is no longer there… if that is even possible…
The exhibit is broken up into several buildings. The largest is around 200 meters long and 100 meters wide, and has the restored formations at the front and many of the terrocotta warriors that are being restored toward the back. A smaller building has a headquarters element where a Terracotta General and several chariots and horses were found. Then there is another large building which has the formations partially uncovered but most have the remains of the old wooden beams, which are now bowed, still covering the halls, and the few that are uncovered show the ruined remains littering the halls, as they were found. And lastly there is a museum with a giant terracotta marionette, standing about 2o feet tall that was used in show to promote the exhibit.
Though the vast formations of uncovered and restored warriors are impressive, they represent only a fraction of the entire army of statues, which is estimated to include over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 670 horses, and it is only a fraction of the larger tomb or the first Emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang. The entire tomb, which has actually never been fully excavated is truly and kingdom taken to the grave. Around 205 BC, only a few years after the Emperor died, most of his terracotta army was destroyed in a revolt. The tombs were set on fire and reportedly burned for five months! Ironically, the Emperor's son, who had ascended the throne, was killed with weapons taken from the terracotta soldiers when the tombs were raided.
After the revolt, the tombs location was lost to history until 1974, when a farmer digging a well rediscovered them. In the exhibit hall with the restored formations of soldiers, you can see how close others were to discovering the tombs. Some graves, established long after the Emperor’s, were uncovered along with the warriors and are visible in the wall between the formations. The farmer that did uncover the tomb was rewarded by the state for the find and probably to buy the land, and now he spends his days signing autographs rather than tending fields.
In the evening, our group celebrated one of the member’s birthday at a local restaurant and a few pubs. The dinner was accompanied multiple rounds of rice wine and by the end of the evening we were planning the birthday girl’s marriage to a local boy at the neighboring table and riding stilt horses along the wall. We later learned that the Chinese writing on the front of the horses said, ‘Do not ride.’ The birthday girl also had a huge bowl of long noodles, which is a birthday tradition in China in which the long noodles represent a wish for long life. This of course came after a huge meal and she did not last long against the long noodles. After dinner, we moved the party to a local nightclub, where the girls undressed the bartenders, and we danced on the bar and spent half the evening behind the bar until the place closed.
For our last day in Xian, we spent a few hours at the museum and a city park with both the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, and China’s largest fountain. Unfortunately, we missed seeing the cities Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, as well as the fountain’s daily show set to lights and music. The Pagodas are thousands of years old and one of them is famous because an earthquake cracked it in half, and years later, another earthquake repaired the crack! Sadly, I learned this after my visit, so I did not get to see the crack that is no longer there… if that is even possible…
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