Onward to another UNESCO World Heritage site, and only reason for visiting Xi’an: the Terracotta Warriors. This former capital of China is much older than Beijing, and houses many underground treasures (including abundant natural resources). However, the most famous sits about an hour’s drive out of town. We are lucky enough to be able to drive right up to the entrance. (Evidently the normal routing is to park about a kilometer away and have to hike up through the local souvenir stalls.)
And so we learn that the (approximately) 8,000 soldiers were discovered by a group of 9 farmers digging a well out in a field in 1974. What initially looked like broken pottery turned out to be a full battalion created by over 740,000 craftsmen for Emperor Qin Shihuang. He began building his tomb when only a young man, and work continued for 37 years. It was believed that burying these soldiers would provide him with an army so he could continue to rule and protect himself from enemies even in the afterlife, when he lived underground. Armed with weapons and accompanied by horses and chariots (although they were only half size because evidently everyone is much smaller in the afterlife), these soldiers were his garrison for the afterlife. The army includes charioteers, archers, cavalrymen and infantrymen, all arranged by rank and duty. Not only that, but no two faces are alike in the entire troop!
Excavation has been divided into 3 “pits”. The first houses about 6,000+ soldiers, all facing East (the only side of Xi’an that isn’t protected by mountains, and a full mile away from the Emperor’s actual tomb (so they will not lead the enemy right to Qin’s door). You can see how large the area is, with a quonset-hut-like ceiling and at the far end is the are where pieces are carefully reconstructed (called “the hospital”).
A close up, complete with matching topknots:
one reconstructed row:
a complete kneeling archer, salvaged unbroken because his short stature placed him well below falling timbers during the fire:
The second pit has about 1,000 soldiers, and this area has only 3 test sites (about 25 feet by 25 feet) dug, so as to ascertain who is where, and give a good idea of what archaeologists see before they start to unearth the soldier’s shards. This shows how the shards are found, before being carefully reassembled in the hospital:
And finally, pit 3 contains 68 soldiers, and they face each other – being a higher-ranking elite guard, they need to communicate with each other in order to provide the best protection for the emperor. However, most of them are headless, because the Emperor died suddenly and most of these soldiers hadn’t yet been finished, but they needed to go underground immediately to provide protection. The emperor’s tomb itself was buried 37 meters below the ground (7 meters lower than the Beijing subway system) – and that was over 2,223 years ago!
The tour includes a 360 degree movie theater – just like at DisneyWorld! – and we see the whole story of the Emperor (fought many wars to become the first Emperor to unite all of China), the creation of his burial grounds and construction of his garrison, including detailed painting and decoration) and the uprising by peasants who came and burned his tombs, causing the roof timbers to collapse (can see many in the dirt excavation) upon all of the army, and to lie dormant under fields until the 9 farmers started digging for water.
Back into town, and to lunch at a lovely little local restaurant, and the usual assortment of sautés, broccoli, eggplant, rice, etc. After lunch, the group heads to a museum and calligraphy lesson, and the two renegades meander along narrow streets jampacked with stalls and stores selling intricate stone stamps, calligraphy brushes of all sizes and shapes, jade jewelry, snacks and lovely paintings of the countryside. A bit of a sit at an outdoor cafe (of which there really aren’t many), a game of cribbage, and then back to meet our group in a lovely square. Back on the bus, and we head to the east gate of the city wall, one of only 13 gates. There, we rent bikes (Lance and I select a tandem) and we’re off to cruise around the 13.3 km city wall.
The wall is lined with red lanterns and chinese string instrumentals and we go sailing along, stopping now and then to snap a picture of ridiculous city traffic:
people lined up at the bus station to go home for the national moon festival tomorrow:
or just the hazy skyline. A bit concerned about our lungs due to pollution, we take a bit of comfort from the fact that starting tomorrow, we will be in the clean mountain air. A bit of squealing from yours truly as we pump the pedals up inclined ramps and go whizzing down the other side. Somehow, the route is a gentle slope downhill almost all the way (Jefe, how do they do that?) and we’re back in about an hour. We hop in our chariot and it’s a short ride back to the hotel. I protest how early they’re going to dinner, and we elect to do our own thing. Which really consists of chilling, packing for 5:15 am departure tomorrow, checking out the little night market (really visions of noise, nasty hospitals as I look at the food offerings) and a walk around the block – picking up a yummy plain yogurt drink; perhaps called fermented milk?) and then back to rest up for an early departure.