Yang, our guide, explained the history behind this First Qin Emperor Ying Zheng (259-210 BC) who built this grand masoleum to himself about 300 BC. Only in 1972 did local farmers unearth the first of the warriors when digging for water. There are 8,000 warriors in this one area, but about 6,000 are uncovered. They are still working to restore them today. This is a World Cultural Heritage Site besides being the most amazing homage to oneself I have ever seen, rivaling in a different way, the Egyptian tombs.
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| Terra Cotta warrior frontline soldiers |
Each warrior is fashioned after a real soldier. The weapons are all real. The thousands of arrows recovered are precision made as well as the crossbows which can shoot up to 800 meters. The swords are covered in magnesium which is an art lost for centuries, only reinvented in Germany. There is speculation that this army, which is 1.5 km behind the tomb, is only one of four. There may be other armies on the other three sides. The original soldiers were painted in mineral colors but the colors are washed away or destroyed by oxidation. A few are preserved.
Entrance to the first pavilion or No. 1 Pit
We arrived about 11:30am, received our tickets and walked to No. 2 Pit where there is a smaller excavation. I was so excited to finally be here because I have always wanted to visit this wonder. I didn't remember that it has only been since 1972 that it was even discovered. Bonnie Godfred and I visited Beijing in 2000. We wanted badly to visit Xian then, but it is really far from Beijing and would have been a 3 day trip, out of the 7 days we had in China, so we left it for another time. I hope Bonnie will be able to visit here in her lifetime.
2nd pit room in which housed the command headquarters and which was destroyed by mauraders
3rd pavillion pit showing cavalry with charriots
A High official
A horse, showing how the figures are hollow and the tail is added on later.
We first went to Pavilion 2 pit where there is the Warrior army headquarters and a religious temple. This Emperor thought of everything. When the marauders came to burn and destroy the figures, only a few hundred years after it was created, they left the holy area alone. We walked through this area quickly, I thought.
Then we went to a big restaurant for lunch. There were two stations where chefs were making noodles. One station demonstrated an oblong dough that was kneaded until it was hard like cheese. The chef shredded it in long strips about 1/2 inch wide directly into the boiling broth. It was very good. The second one had a long piece of dough that he stretched and hit the middle onto the stone surface, then folded it and twisted and kept kneading it this way. Then he put flour on it and started to fold and stretch, fold and stretch, fold and stretch and twist, over and over. Adding flour, this finally created long skinny strings of noodle like angel hair pasta, which was also put in a broth and served.
This well preserved figure kneeling has a profile like the profile of the province on Xian.
We finally went to the Pavilion 1 to see the main area of the excavation. There were crowds and crowds of tourists, 3 or 4 deep along the railings. It is an immense warehouse. I later went back and it took me 1/2 hour to admire just one side of it. We covered the other side quickly with our guide after lunch. We also went to see a movie about the warriors in a circular theater, much like the one you see in the China area of Epcot center, but the quality was poor. Then we had about 45 more minutes to see the pavilion with the restored chariots and return to what we wanted to see. If you go, skip the movie. There are between 5 and 10,000 tourists per day visiting this World Heritage Site, or the Eighth Wonder of the World. We mostly saw Asian tourists, probably Chinese.
figures almost complete to be placed in the main area. Behind are more being worked on
An example of color still preserved on a coat of mail
See the soldiers facing this way, they are the flank, keeping track of all sides.
The long line of soldiers in the front leading the army
The First pavillion. The real leader of the army ?!
Closeups. It is said that the middle figure looks like the farmer who discovered the site
More of the leading soldiers. You can see their personalities!
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| Terra Cotta warrior frontline soldiers |
detail of a horssse. the chariots we destroyed behind them
Soldiers in progress
Outside Pavillion 1
An idea of the crowds of tourists and the immensity of the building
Cherry blossoms and sign"You Should Be Here"
Another "I was here" photo
The sword plated in magnesium to make it harder, a technology lost for hundreds of years.
We also all bought the book about the site with photos which was signed by the original farmer who discovered the site. I was amazed to see we caught him there because he must come here every single day. It was 20 Y to get your photo taken wth him. I thought they said $20 so I didn't do it. You got a bonus book of postcards which I don't want to send because they are very nice photos, way better than mine or that are in the book.
At 3:30 we had to leave. I guess I saw enough, but we could have spent our time more wisely. If I had to, I would definitely go again. An hour drive to the airport and we headed back to the ship. the plane was on time. We took a different airline for some reason. We were back to the ship by 10:00pm. This is a segment of our cruise. People get off in Shanghai, and new passengers will be arrive with a total increase of about 70 passengers. Oceania is nice in that the new passengers had a night in Shanghai before they boarded and a half day more to enjoy Shanghai. We had the same in Singapore, so that we all got to enjoy the port city itself.
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