feldmanlarry

Today was the reason I came to Xi’an. The very famous terra-cotta soldiers were first on the agenda. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of a three day holiday in China in which people are supposed to clean the graves of their ancestors but also get out and travel to places like Xi’an. My guide, Ann, had never seen worse crowds out there. This is the first time I’ve experienced this in my 7-weeks of traveling. February and March are not peak months. It didn’t turn out to be all that bad. With my height, I could just put my camera over the smaller Chinese or wait a few seconds for a spot to come available.

Terra Cotta Warriors waiting to hear my words of wisdom

After about one hour in the Toyota minivan, we saw a brief movie then went to an official souvenir shop where something really good happened. The farmer who discovered the soldiers in 1974 while digging a well was there to sign autographs. My guide said it was 20 RMB, or $3.50 to get your picture taken but then it was clarified that they would only let you take the picture if you bought the souvenir book for 150 RMB ($22.50). He would also autograph the book. I vowed never to buy any of these tourist books after my first trip, when I realized they would just sit on a shelf never to be seen again. However, any good principle should have a situation where it should be broken and this was it.

Farmer who discovered the terra cotta soldiers in 1974 (left), close up of his signature (right)

I don’t like to read up on the places I’m going to visit since I’d rather hear about it from the guide when I’m there. I was surprised to hear that all the soldiers except one were broken back in the 200’s BCE by angry peasants after the fall of the Emperor Qinshihuang. The pieces were all there and have been rebuild painstakingly ever since.

Side view of the soldiers

The Emperor Qinshihuang had these soldiers made to protect him at his mausoleum, which is about a mile away. Feng Shui was used to determine the ideal location. Many people today still believe in Feng Shui as a way to determine the location of items according to some kind of perfect harmony. Penn and Teller had an episode of their Bullshit series on Showtime about it. They had three Fend Shui experts come in and tell them how to rearrange the furniture in a house to be in perfect Feng Shui. All three of them had totally different ideas, while each declaring Feng Shui is a science.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closer views

It took 38 years, from 247 to 208 BCE, to make the soldiers, using up to 750,000 people. Qinshihuang was a key figure in Chinese history. He abolished feudalism and created a central government with 36 prefectures divided up into counties, townships, Tings, and Lis. He standardized weights and measures, ordered the width of carriages to be standardized at 6 feet and many other accomplishments. But he also destroyed many ancient records and had Confucian scholars murdered.

My tour included a close up picture by a professional photographer. The picture was delivered to my hotel later that night. There was also a VIP entrance by invitation only. The book I bought had a picture of the Clintons in 1998 using this entrance to actually mix it up with the soldiers.

Professional photo, ruined by my picture of the picture

The Clintons trying to get the soldiers to vote for them

We were in Pit 1 which is 160,000 square meters or about 40 acres. Big.

Behind the front few thousands of soldiers came an area under construction. They have been working on this for over 30 years and have a long way to go. They’re making sure that each fragment gets put in with the correct soldier.

Working site for rebuilding soldiers

My guide, Ann, in front of soldiers in the back of Pit 1

Ann was surprised and very pleased I wanted to take her picture. I emailed this and another one later to her and she seemed very happy. Apparently no one had offered to do this for her.

Loved the horses

It turned into a really nice day, maybe in the upper 50’s and sunny. The blossoms on the trees were beautiful. She said they’re Japan’s national tree, maybe Cherry? My knowledge of trees is at the level of big / small, leaves / no leaves, xmas trees / not xmas trees, etc.

What kind of blossoms are these? Whatever they are, they’re beautiful.

We left Pit 1 for the smaller Pit 3. there was a little less crowding outside. The vast majority of tourists were Chinese but more Westerners than I saw at the Forbidden City. There was a higher ratio of Westerners at the Great Wall though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Massive mostly all Chinese crowds for the holiday

Some headless soldiers (reconstruction not finished) in Pit 3

More horses, human crowds in the back

Apparently each soldier is based on a real soldier from the 200’s BCE. No two terra-cotta soldiers are alike. None looked like this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the only soldier found that had not been broken, out of all the thousands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My guide, Ann looks a lot more natural in her pose. She wanted to be taken with this 17 year old kung fu soldier.

Beautiful carriage

We had been at the Terra-Cotta Army exhibit for a long time and I was ready to go back. On the way from the parking lot, we took an electric bus for 75 cents. They did not have the buses to return though because they wanted to make you walk through a long series of tourist shops and restaurants. This may have been the deal they made with the farmers, similar to what they did in Petra, Jordan.

Demonstration of making sugar cakes, on the way back to the parking lot

Long row of shops on the way back to the parking lot

If you read my blog entries from my February trip to the Middle East, you might remember my attempt to have freshly squeezed pomegranate juice every day in Israel, Jordan, and Turkey. It turns out Xi’an is a major pomegranate center for China. They didn’t have it freshly squeezed but I had to get it.

Kiosk selling pomegranate juice. Brought back my Middle East tradition.

After chicken and vegetables for lunch, we drove back to the city, where we had to deal with more problems with my April 8 Shanghai Bob Dylan ticket. We then went on to the Xi’an Wall.

The Xi’an Wall is the best preserved wall in China. It’s 14k (about 9 miles) long and was built by 1st Ming emperor in the 1600’s. It’s 12 meters (40 feet) high and 12-14 m (40-46 feet) wide, deisgned to keep out the Mongols. In 1984 they replaced the bricks. There are 4 gates, we were at the East gate, called the Gate of Permanent Happiness.