Xi'an and the Terra Cotta Warriors

The city now called Xi'an was the capital of China in 221 BC when Qin Shi Huang declared himself the first emperor of a unified China. This was the beginning of a series of dynasties that would rule China until 1912. The terra cotta warrior army was made and buried near his tomb, presumably to protect him in the afterlife. The tour guides call these warriors the 8th wonder of the world. They truly are an amazing site to see as you'll see in the photos wih this post.
Xi'an is now the capital of Shaanxi Povince and is located near the center of China. It is a city of over 8 million people. Once the end of the Silk Road which brought goods and cultural influences (inlduing Islam) from the west, it is now important as a center of development for central and northwest China. We found it an interesting city to visit, different than both Beijing and Shanghai, although in some respects similar (especially the rapid growth we saw in the north end of the city - will add some photos of various street scene to give you a flavour of the place).

Once we de-trained and made our way to the bus (a bit of a walk) we were whisked to the gleaming Golden Flower Hotel for a great buffet breakfast. The hotel was great. New, clean, good pool, free internet. The only flaw was the smoking section in the restaurant. This is not uncommon in China, although you'd think the hotel might re-arrange seating a bit, seeing hardly anyone in the smoking section and westerners lined up waiting to get into the non-smoking section. Anyway...a minor nuisance really...lets get back to the tour.

After breakfast and a quick fresh up in our rooms, we were taken to see the old city walls. These walls completely encircle the inner city and are abou 12 km long. Although there were older walls here at one time, the ones we see today date from the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century. The walls were recently renovated and are something to see. But what was perhaps more amazing for us to see on this tour, was a view of one of the section of the wall with NO PEOPLE on it. For as far as we could see along one stretch of the wall there was not a sigle person. Now that was truly amazing! It ony lasted a minute or so before another tour arrived, so we revelled in this brief moment of solitary connection with this grand historical relic. Cool.

We then went into the inner city, within the old Ming city walls, to the central square where the Bell Tower and Drum Tower are located. From there we walked through the narrow market streets of the ancient Muslim Quarter to the more than 1300 year old Great Mosque of Xi'an. Mosque and its grounds are a quiet, beautiful respite from the crowded, bustling narrow streets of his modern and ancient city. We ended our first day in Xi'an with a huge dumpling dinner at the "Legendary De Fa Chang" Restaurant located in the central square of the city. There were so many types of boiled and steamed dumplings that I lost count. The flavours included spicey, meaty (pork, lamb, shrimp....), vegetable, pumpkin!, and sweet. We were sooooo full! And then the tour guides surprised us all with a cake for the 2 birthday girls on our trip, Jin and Angela. We managed to find just a little more room for a piece of cake. Mmmmm! Next time we're here, I'll have to starve my self for a day or two before trying this dumpling feast again.

The famous Terra Cotta Warriors were the main objective of our second day in Xian. First though we hopped a cab for a short trip to a nearby park to see morning Tai Chi exercises. It was about 7:30 am and the park was busy with various morning fitness programs including Tai Chi and the standard dancersize. Jin and Lili gave Tai Chi a try. So did I. I feel so much more centered...really....

After this warm up and a hearty buffet breakfast, we all got on the bus for a drive northeast of the city to the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum. We first stopped in at a factory that produces replicas. They showed us how the warriors were made. We also got to ham it up with some fun photos of our heads on top of full sized warrior bodies. We bought little replicas. There were also lots of other Chinese crafts and souvenirs for sale. The most interesting were the hand-made silk rugs. They took 6 months to a year each to complete. Amazing. And expensive!

After lunch we finally got to see the warriors. These were discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974. One of the discoverers was actually at the museum signing books about the warriors. The warriors are displayed in 3 pits that are covered by buildings to protect them. The most amazing one is the first. There must be thousands of warriors and some terra cotta horses all lined up in rows in a pit that has to be the size of 2 or 3 football fields. Many of the warriors were destroyed when the wooden structures that housed them were burned by some rival general a few years after the death of Emperor Qin. In one of the pits we could see long rows of collapsed roofing that was probably due to this event. There were thousands of people here all trying to see and photograph or be photographed with the warriors. A little crazy, but all part of the experience.

Once we'd had enough it was time to head back to the hotel, have a swim and cool off, and then get a bite to eat. This day was Jin's birthday so we let her choose our dinner. She chose pizza from room-service! It was actually really good and it was a good choice too, because we were pretty pooped from our big day, so staying in was a perfect plan. We had one more surprise though, the hotel delivered a complimentary birthday cake for Jin to our room. Did I say this place was amazing?! I think this will go down as a pretty memorable birthday.

Better add some photos and get this posted. Still have to tell you about Shanghai and then our triumphant return to Korea. Next post....

Bye for now,

Derek, Deb, Jin and Lili

Street scenes from Xi'an:

Yes the last 2 photos were of goats roaming the downtown streets (apparently the farmer was delivering fresh goats milk!) and people ballroom dancing under an overpass (morning exercises!).

The central square of Xi'an is dominated by the Drum and Bell Towers, and of course the usual modern eating establishments.

Food in the Muslim Quarter was more interesting:

The Great Mosque of Xi'an:

The Walls of Xi'an:

Tai Chi in the morning:



Learning how the terra cotta warriors were made:






At the museum at last:


There were also a few bronze statues found at this site:

Here are Jin's 2 birthday cakes (the first she shared with Angela).