October 7, 2005

October 7, 2005

In the morning while eating breakfast we run into a lot of senior citizens on a group tour of China. They have been living in various parts of China for the last year teaching English to the locals. Before returning to the US, they are playing tourist.

Our first stop in Xian is to see the World Heritage “terracotta army”, one of the main things I wanted to see in China. Some consider it to be the 8th wonder of the ancient world. In 221 BC Emperor Qin Shihuang conquered and united all of China for the first time. Xian was his capital and he built himself a tomb here. His actual burial plot is under a large hill that has yet to be excavated. It is rumored to be very extravagant and even have a lake of molten mercury in it. As part of his tomb complex, he had built a life-size clay replica of his entire 8000-man army placed in an underground labyrinth. Farmers digging a well rediscovered the soldiers in 1974. The army still sits where they were found, partly exposed, protected by three buildings.

The first pit and most extensively excavated has a couple thousand soldiers, horses, and chariots in battle formation. Shortly after Qin’s death, the peasants revolted, entered this army complex and broke every soldier. The ones in this room have been painstakingly glued back together. Each soldier is different and in the likeness of the original soldiers. They originally all had bronze weaponry but the rebels confiscated them when they ransacked the complex.

We move on to the next smaller pit containing fewer than 100 soldiers and horses that is supposed to be the headquarters staff of Qin’s army. From there we go to a third pit, which looks as large the first. This one remains mostly unexcavated. They have done test excavations here to see what is buried. It also has a small museum containing the few statues that were found unbroken, and also the emperor’s bronze chariot. On our way out of the facility we meet the farmer who discovered the complex. He is signing guidebooks. We decide to buy one.

After lunch we visit the Hua Qing Pools in the hills east of Xian. This area of thermal springs was the site of many palaces while Xian was the first capital of China for more than a thousand years. The entrance complex is a scenic blend of traditional Chinese structures interlaced with Koi ponds. Decorating the main pond is a marble statue of Yang Guifei. According to legend she was one of the most beautiful women in China. A Tang Dynasty Emperor discovered her here and became infatuated with her. His subsequent neglect of the empire resulted in rebellions and the end of the golden age of the Tang Dynasty.

This evening we go to a dinner theatre and watch a music and dance show while enjoying dumplings. I love Chinese dumplings. In particular these dumplings all come in various cute shapes.