We got up early enough to have the breakfast buffet, which was huge and delicious, with both western and Chinese food. Then we met our guide, Andy, in his van in front of the 7-11 with the rest of the group going to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. After picking everybody up, we headed out of town while Andy gave us some history and cultural information.
Xi'an is the oldest city still existing in it's own place and name in China, dating back over 3000 years. Even as late as 30 years ago, most of the population lived inside the walls and outside the walls was mostly farmland. Now, the population has risen to over 30 million, and the city has three ring roads outside of the old city wall, with loads of skyscrapers. The average condo/apartment size is 60-100 square meters (645 - 1076 sq ft), but this includes the exterior walls and public areas. The average purchase price is 30,000 yuan per square meter (about the equivalent of $400 USD per square foot). Back in the day, the bell tower would ring in the morning, and the drums in the drum tower would sound at night. There is a Tang Dynasty Museum and Park, where the Emperors, Empress Wu, and other royalty lived, and where the general population was forbidden, kind of like the better known Forbidden City in Beijing. I tried, but didn't get the shot as we drove past it. An electric car company called Build Your Dreams (BYD) is headquartered in Xi'an, and we saw many of their cars on the road. License plates for electric cars are green, and those cars have no driving restrictions. Cars that run on gas have blue plates, and they can only be on the road on certain days, based on the tag number. The attempts they're making in air conservation (pollution control) seems to be working, as the air is much cleaner here than in Beijing. Of course, it's not hard to have cleaner air than Beijing. We learned a lot from Andy, and this is just the stuff I was able to get written down on my phone. There was much more.
But, we finally made it to our destination and we got out of the van/bus and headed for the entrance, where we were greeted with a huge stone statue of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, and the man who constructed the terra cotta army to protect his mausoleum.
There are conflicting accounts of Emperor Qin. Some say he was a paranoid tyrant who abused his population to complete his follies, such as this imperial army of warriors to protect him in the afterlife. Others say he was a mastermind, though I can't find anything that disputes his reputation as a tyrant. The Terra Cotta Army wasn't known until a farmer accidentally unearthed some pottery and other items in the 1970s while trying to dig a well. Other farmers also unearthed parts, and the Chinese government eventually took over the area and began hiring archeologists to properly excavate and preserve them. This is the first look we got of them, right after entering the first pit. This is the place where most people take that wide-angle shot. All the way back to 24 mm, I couldn't get the closest edges, but look how far back this goes! If you notice all of the berms between the rows, there is believed to be more warriors that have not been excavated there, so there are many more that have not been unearthed.
There is significant detail on all of these soldiers. It is said that each of these is modeled after a real person. If you notice the hands, they were holding real weapons when they were initially constructed. However, at some point, the tomb is believed to have been raided, at which time, many of those weapons were stolen. At some point, the mausoleum was burned, and any remaining weapons, chariots, and anything that would burn was lost. Raiders and marauders knocked down the warriors and the structures. The figures were initially painted, but much of the black on the statues is from the fire. Not all pieces of all of the warriors have been found, so some heads or hands or other parts are missing.
An area that is only partially excavated.
Horses with the charioteers behind. The blank space is where the chariot would have been.
Another wide-angle shot, this time from the side
One of the areas where they are working on reassembling the individual statues
There were several statues with their coolers of unassembled parts and tied together
There were also a few pieces just laying on the floor in a pile.
This video shows just how vast this first pit is.
One of the areas where they are reassembling the warriors
Some parts of some warriors are wrapped in plastic. These are pieces that still have some of the original paint on them. The plastic helps keep the original lacquer moist so it doesn't flake and peel before the proper preservatives can be applied.
Reassembling horses
We went into the third pit next. It's much smaller and appears to be more of an administrative headquarters type of area, based on the arrangement of the warriors.
These designs on the tiles are original.
This is pit 2, which is still being very actively excavated.
You can see the remnants of the wire spokes for the chariot wheel
The windows have this relief against them in this pit.
This is how they are when they are first uncovered.
They also have a museum where they have put the better assembled and preserved items. The more ribbons a warrior wore, the higher his rank.
The Emperor was also buried with multiple animals. Many of these were bronze instead of clay.
After seeing the museum, we went to Andy's mother's house, where she fed us a delicious homemade lunch.
Andy and his mother
We got off the bus/van in front of the Wild Goose Pagoda, just in time for the fountain show, which happens every afternoon. There are multiple statues in the plaza heading to the fountain.
It probably would have been prettier with the Wild Goose Pagoda in the background, but I didn't think about that at the time and watched with the Wild Goose Pagoda behind me. It was still a nice show.
After the show, we went back to the Wild Goose Pagoda and temple area. It was really nice.
This is the Wild Goose Pagoda. I never quite got the purpose of it, but there is no elevator or escalator, and to get to the top, you have to walk up seven flights of stairs. We did not walk up.
The bell and drum towers looked alike and were next to each other. Again, the bell rang in the morning, and the drum sounded at night.
The bell inside the bell tower
The drum inside the drum tower
Lots of different Buddhas in the Buddha temples. Each Buddha represents different spiritual qualities.
And there are instructions on the proper way to show your respect to the Buddhas.
I still love the figures on the roofs of buildings.
Finally, we caught a rickshaw home. Our driver couldn't figure out how to get there, and he kept stopping and asking people, who also didn't know. Finally, he pulled up alongside a young guy who took the old guy's phone and my phone, set the old man's phone map to the right address, and sent us on our way. We stopped him at the wall because we decided we still had time to wander the top of the wall. It took a while to figure out how to get up there, but we made it.
There is an amphitheater at the top of the stairs, just before the top of the wall. They hold concerts there.
They had a series of blow-up figures along the top of the wall, sponsored by different companies.
You could almost see the mote that goes all the way around the outside of the city wall from here.
Restaurants on the inside of the wall
Rooftop bars on the inside of the wall
You can see the Bell tower and the few tall buildings in the old town, though most of the skyscrapers are required to be outside of the wall.
When we came down from the wall, we caught another tuk-tuk home. We got lost yet again. I finally was able to translate our hotel name and address to Chinese in my phone. The driver called his wife and she told him how to get there. Once we arrived, he called her again to find out how much to charge and how to give me the Alipay QR code. I did get this shot of the Bell Tower on the way past.
When we got to the hotel, we made arrangements with the concierge to have a driver pick us up to take us to the Four Rare Animals Wildlife Park in the morning. Still loving Xi'an!
