Yesterday we had a great breakfast here at the hostel, scrambled eggs, muesli, fruit, toast. Off we went on our tour with Zza-Zza our pretty fair English speaking guide, in a van with Angelina, a Chinese-American from California volunteering in a medical center in Beijing for the past 6 months, and a French couple who are here for their 5th time, from the Provence area of France. We drove out and then walked, walked, walked until we entered Pit 2, the least interesting and developed of the excavations at the Terra Cotta Warriors. Back in 250 BCE there was a guy who declared himself First Emperor - Qin She Huang - who was either a bad guy or good guy depending on how you look at it. Good: He unified the 6 areas of China into one unit (lots of warfare for that! and I'm sure millions killed!); established a common currency; standardized the Mandarin language; connected the individual pieces of wall into the Great Wall (anyone who died during this got buried right in the wall - no big ceremony!). Bad: He declared himself First Emperor (hence, Chin, his surname, became China), prepared his tomb by conscripting 8000 artisans to mold, paint thousands of warriors, chariots, horses for the afterlife - and then wanted to keep them secret so he killed the artists when they were finished. They knew it so they painted the faces as each other and sometimes inscribed their names on the shoulders or somewhere of the warrior they were creating. They were created of terracotta clay in 3 parts, bottom, midsection and head and then assembled later. They were hollow, fired and then painted brilliant colors (all of which has faded within 1/2 hour of being exposed to air 2000+ years later!) They were arranged in front of his hill/pyramid shaped tomb (it hasn't been opened since he surrounded it with a moat of mercury - they are thinking of opening it in 20 years or so). Walls divided the rows of 4 abreast soldiers - archers, generals, infantry , charioteers. Pit 2 has some of the horses but many are on loan to various museums around the world. And you could see the broken pieces lying askew as they were found. Many German artisans especially work at night on restoring more. It will take another 50 years or so. BTW, in 1976 a Chinese peasant was digging a well and punched through to the first horse that was found! He was at Pit 1 and, for a price, you could buy his heavy book, and get an autograph. We sneaked a picture (last trip he wanted to charge me just to take his picture) and passed on the book. He made his fortune with that digging, although he was paid only 10Y by the government but later relocated to another farm, given a house, and has spent his time autographing at the site! Pit 1 was the piece d'resistance - rows and rows of upright restored (but not colorful) warriors in position, each face completely different. She said they painted all 56 minority group warriors in the mix. We took lots of pictures.
Anyway, these clay soldiers were buried under grass mats, and then soil to hide them. During one of his inspections Qin She Huang died (at 55) because he thought mercury would give him longevity - instead it killed him early! So some of the warriors were missing heads! Then his successor wasn't successful, the warriors were plundered and knocked over (but not the tomb because of the mercury moat), and then covered up for centuries into grassland, farms, etc. Until 1976! So this has now surpassed the Great Wall as top tourist destination (trap!) in China! Considered the 8th wonder of the world, said Zza-Zza.
Oh, another bad: Qin destroyed ancient texts telling history prior to this, killed 450 scholars who disagreed with him on this, and was generally a despot!
So you decide!!
But China remains endlessly fascinating!
Our bus let Pat, Marilynn, Angelina and me off at the East gate of the city wall, used to surround a palace, like the Forbidden City. We rented bikes there to bike around the top of the wall and look down on both the old and outside the new. Marilynn and Pat hadn't biked in years but since there was no traffic and it was flat, albeit bumpy, they did great! After about an hour or so, we reached the South Gate and descended to what looked like a reenactment of a Tang Dynasty (the one where Xi'an was capital and seems like the apogee of Chinese civilization - around 600 AD) changing of the guards, with soldiers in costume doing marching routines. There were some drummers performing as well. Little unexpected perk!
We walked with Angelina to the Starbucks by the Bell Tower where we were to meet Joyce at 5:30. The 4 of us then wandered to the Muslim quarter and ordered dinner of lamb veggies, etc. Then shopped along the way, buying more turtles (I'm up to 4 now for Jackson!) heading for the Great Mosque (it was closed so back tomorrow maybe).
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