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After way too short a night's sleep, we woke up at 4:30 a.m. in advance of our morning flight to Xi'an. We took showers and packed. Karen had told us to be ready at "6 past 10 or 6 past 15." How cute! We checked out at 6 o'clock and the desk clerk remembered us from our prior visit in October. We had once again enjoyed our stay at this boutique hotel immensely.
Karen and Mr. Chou were already there waiting for us. Since it was too early for the breakfast buffet (it starts at 7 o'clock), Karen had arranged take away breakfasts from the hotel. We had white dragonfruit, watermelon, pineapple, sandwiches containing ham, cheese, mayo, and pickles on white bread with the crust cut off, yogurt, and water. There was so much fruit that we gave the leftovers to Mr. Chou and Karen. It was sunny but a bit hazy. There was no traffic so we got to the airport quite quickly, arriving at 6:45 a.m. Karen gave us some essential oils she had bought in Indonesia as a gift. She is so sweet. She brought us in for check-in for our 8:45 flight to Xi'an. We said our goodbyes after a lovely albeit short time together, and went through security. The gate was dead until it was time to board and then it was suddenly busy. We boarded, and the flight departed on time. They served us peanuts and orange juice, and we landed in Xi'an at around 10:40. We collected our luggage and went outside to meet our guide Mary, as well as the driver of our black Buick (we were never introdued, so we have no idea what his name was). The city of Xi'an has 3 million residents, and the greater area contains 9 million. Xi'an became the start of the silk road during the Han Dynasty. Most foreigners' knowledge of Xi'an stems from the fact that an army of terra cotta warriors was discovered here as part of the massive tomb complex of the first Chinese Emperor. On the drive out of town to reach the warrior site, Mary gave us an introduction to the area. Agriculture is very important, and they grow wheat, strawberries, Fuji apples, persimmons, grapes, and pomegranates. We passed farmland, and saw Li Mountain (known as Black Horse, because the cypress tree silhouettes look like horses at sunset). The area is the alluvial plain of the Yellow River. Mary told us that Brother Sewing Machines has a big presence here, and we drove past the factory and employee housing. The terra cotta warriors are in an area known as Lintong. It used to be its own county, but now it is a district of Xi'an. Only 40% of the population of Lintong still farm. Most have turned to tourism in the wake of the discovery of the terra cotta army. Mary told us some background information about the archaeological site we would be visiting. The army of terra cotta warriors was discovered in 1974 when a local farmer named Yang Zhifa dug a well and discovered some terra cotta shards. An archaeological excavation commenced, which resulted in one of the most amazing discoveries of the late 20th century: Qin Shi Huang unified China and became the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (the word "China" is derived from his name). Xi'an was the original capital of China. In 221 B.C., at the age of only 13, Emperor Qin commissioned an immense tomb and a full terra cotta army to protect him in the afterlife. The effort was massive in scale, involving 720,000 workers over the course of 38 years. It resulted in the largest tomb in the world! Excavation of the site (which is still ongoing) has discovered around 8,000 figures (7,000 warriors, 560 chariot horses, 116 cavalry horses, and 140 chariots). There were also 40,000 bronze weapons, including chromium plated swords which could still cut through 20 pieces of paper at once when discovered (amazing that it was still that sharp after 2200 years underground!). Chromium plating technology was only discovered by the west in the 1940's in Germany, so this is pretty mindblowing. The terra cotta warriors are a tourist boom for the area that is not slowing down, as is evidenced by the large, brand new tourist complex near Lintong where we stopped for an early lunch. We were the first tourists to arrive at in the large banquet hall and had first dibs on the extensive and unmolested buffet. We had lamb with garlic, beef filet, salad, meat loaf, different kinds of pasta, duck with orange, fried potatoes with onions, Sprite, and pastries and cookies for dessert (including a jelly roll!) There was also a station for Chinese noodles and Chinese hamburgers, but we didn't really realize until we were already too full. Mary said we could get a Chinese hamburger tomorrow. There is a workshop on site where they demonstrated to us how they construct replicas of the terra cotta warriors as souvenirs using the same local clay and original techniques as Emperor Qin's artisans. The only things they do differently now are that they add quartz powder to the clay for strength, and they double fire them in the kiln - the first time with wood and the second with coal. This provides strength and weather protection. The guy who was explaining the process to us told us that the life-sized statue would even stand up to Boston winters outdoors. Too bad we didn't have room in our luggage for a life-sized Chinese soldier! For the smaller souvenir figurines, the artisans at this workshop put the clay into moulds to make the entire figure as one piece. After extracting the figures from the moulds, artisans clean them up and detail them by hand. For the life-sized replicas, they follow the process that was used back in the Qin dynasty: they create the heads, hands, and torsos using separate moulds. Each piece is hollow, and is cleaned up / detailed by an artisan. They the pieces are assembled into a full warrior. The Qin Dynasty terra cotta warriors are each unique, with individual details in faces, hair, and uniforms being hand-carved. Here at this workshop, they produce a variety of archetypes (but of course they are not all unique). You can tell the rank of each figure by studying the details:
Our "guide" at the workshop then took us into the gift shop. He said, almost apologetically, "Of course I also need to try to sell you something..." But it was a very soft sell, and he showed us all of the different pricing options. Although inexpensive figures would be available everywhere in the Xi'an area, we wanted to buy something here. We had seen how this place manufactures them, and they were of nice quality. And they were made from the same local clay as the original warriors. We opted for a medium priced option that looked more authentic, at a reasonable $23. After lunch, we drove to the location where the warriors were discovered. On our drive to the warrior site, we passed Emperor Qin's burial mound (which looks like a small mountain). It remains unexcavated, partially due to superstition and fear of boobytraps like a rumored mercury lake (the surrounding soil DOES have high amounts of mercury...), and partially due to the desire for better archaeological techniques to be developed before disturbing the site. It is 1.5 miles from the warriors. The Emperor chose the spot due to good feng shui with the Mount Li behind it and a river in front. We arrived at the warrior complex and Mary bought our tickets. We walked through a gauntlet of shops. The sun was quite hot. The views of the landscape in every direction were stunning. Mary said that the beautiful sunny clear weather was very rare here. She hadn't seen the surrounding craggy green mountains this clearly since she can remember. Yesterday there had been a lot of rain. We were very lucky with the weather once again. (The next day she would tell us that today's air quality in Xi'an was the best in all of China! How does this keep happening to us?!) We took a golf cart to Pit 1, the first (1974) and largest to have been discovered to date. This was the spot where that local farmer had first run across terra cotta shards while digging a well. There is a large hangar over the pit, but it has many windows which give sufficient natural light to view the archaeological site. When you enter the hanger, you come face to face with the imposing army. They look like they are advancing on you. You gaze down at row after row of statues...going on for the length of 2.5 American football fields! It is overwhelming in its impressiveness. Everyone crowds at the front of the pit to take photos from the most iconic perspective. Mary helped us get to a very good vantagepoint. When the warriors were first created, wooden beams draped with bamboo mats acted as a ceiling above them. Over the years, some of these collapsed, smashing the warriors into hundreds of pieces. You could see countless restored warriors and horses standing in battle formations within the pit. And each is unique! The vanguard of footsoldiers were in the front along with their horses. Behind them were the rest of the ranks. There were 8 different base face "types", which correspond to 8 different ethnic groups which made up the Qin population at the time. Moulds of the heads were comprised of these different face types, which provided the basic face bone structure. Artisans added details such as facial hair, expression, hairstyle based on their military rank, etc. In the end, every single figure has a unique face/head. Although we have seen the terra cotta warriors in photos and on TV, we really had no idea of the sheer scope of it. Photos and video just can't do it justice. The scale of this whole undertaking is mindboggling. 6000 terra cotta figures have been found so far in Pit 1, armed with much bronze weaponry. The sheer scale of the project is overwhelming as you stand, totally humbled, looking out across this vast pit. We could have stared down at them from our vantagepoint all day, but we snapped ourselves out of our reverie and decided that we had to move on if we wanted to see all that this site had to offer. The observation platform / walkways were surprisingly close to the warriors, and you could get a very good view. We proceeded clockwise around the perimeter of the pit. We saw the location where the farmer had dug the well that fatefully led to the discovery of the warriors. Looking at the pit from the front, it is in the front left corner. It seems to be on the very edge of the pit, so if he had by chance dug just a few inches further over, this amazing army might never have been discovered at all! The warriors' bodies were assembled from different pieces: the head, the torso (which was uniformed according to their rank), and the hands. They were larger than the Qin people at the time, in order to provide super-human protection for the Emperor in the afterlife. The statues were dried in the shade and then fired in a kiln at 100 degrees Celsius. No kilns have been discovered by the archaeological teams yet. After firing, the figures were painted. However, most of the paint is no longer visible now that the statues have been exposed to the air and humidity. The warriors were then armed with bronze weapons. It is still an active archaeological site, and archaeologists were hard at work restoring warriors. Photos were not allowed in certain active areas, and we respected the signs though many tourists did not. Archaeologists were using computers, winches, ladders, etc.in their restoration efforts. Some of the warriors were wrapped in plastic wrap as their glue dried, or were belted together. On these warriors, you could see the fractures where the pieces had been joined. Some of the pieces were so small! It must be such painstaking work to figure out how to reassemble these pieces, but also very gratifying, as it is so historically significant! We spent the majority of time at Pit 1, since it is the most extensive. We could have stayed in there all day, as there was so much to see. But there were 2 other pits as well as a museum to visit, so we reluctantly pulled ourselves away and walked a short distance to Pit 3. Pit 3 was discovered in 1976. It is believed to be the terra cotta army's command center (junmu). Seventy-two warriors and horses were found in this location, which is situated behind the soldiers in Pit 1. Figures here are dressed in officer's uniforms. They are facing one another, not in battle formation. No battle weapons were found here, only ceremonial ones. Animal bones discovered here indicate sacrifices for good battles had taken place. There was also a horse stable with fully restored horses, which even had terra cotta tails. Lastly, we went to Pit 2, which was discovered in 1976. It has not been fully excavated. Archaological techniques and technology are always improving, so it is nice that they are leaving some sites unexcavated for the future. Maybe future techniques will allow preservation of the colorful paint which adorns the warriors. It is estimated that there are 1300 figures in this pit, so that is a lot of potential! It looks like the original ceiling of wooden beams and bamboo mats is still intact in this pit, so perhaps the warriors underneath are in good shape. Over to the side of the pit, there were warriors in glass display cases. They were well lit and we were able to get up close to them from all angles. Mary suggested we spend most of our Pit 2 time here, and she was correct. One archer had a very precise hairstyle and very elaborate shoe treads. The amount of detail was amazing! There was also a display case housing tools used to dig the pits (iron axes, chisels, hammers, bolts, and spades). There were samples of bricks which were used for the floors of the pits. And there was a selection of some of the 40,000 bronze weapons which have been found thus far, including spears, halberds, battle axes, swords, hooks, bows, crossbows, and arrowheads. In the gift shop, we bought a book and DVD combo pack about the site. The farmer who had discovered the warriors back in 1974, had been nearly forgotten. When Bill Clinton visited the site in 1998, he asked what happened to the farmer, and asked to meet him. They tracked him down, and at that point he was illiterate. They taught him to sign his name, and now he works full time in the gift shop, signing books and meeting visitors who are grateful for his fortuitous discovery. He signed our book and shook our hands, and it was an honor to get to meet him. Then we went into the museum, where the star attractions are two bronze chariots. The emperor planned for his soul to ride in this bronze chariot convoy to the underworld. These are smaller than life size as it was believed that the soul is smaller than a human. Chariot 1 was for the emperor's bodyguard, and featured an articulated parasol. Chariot 2 (a replica, because the original is on display elsewhere) was for the emperor himself. When it was discovered, it had a sliding window and hinged door in the back which still functioned. Each chariot was ridden by a bronze charioteer who was driving 4 bronze horses. Getting to see the terra cotta warriors was very humbling. The sheer scale and age of them (2200 years!) was hard to wrap our heads around. This was something that we had seen on television and in magazines, but we had never expected to be able to see it in person. China undertakes projects which are larger than life today, but this is proof that they were doing it 2200 years ago as well. The day was quite hot, and we had already drunken the small 350 ml bottles of water that we had with us. Walking back to the car in the late afternoon sun was quite dehydrating and we felt overheated. We were looking forward to getting to the car so that we could enjoy the air conditioning and re-up our water supply. Mary stopped to buy herself a drink and offered to buy me a water. I quenched my thirst as we approached the car. When we got there, we found that the driver did not have an additional supply of water. This was unusual, as we had specifically stated that Craig needs plenty of drinking water due to his multiple sclerosis. He dehydarates easily, and that exacerbates his MS. We couldmn't let him get dehydrated at the beginning of a long trip. We got onto the highway and there were no opportunities to stop to buy water. I shared my bottle with Craig, and let him drink most of it. He needed it more than I did. We were on the road back to the city by around 4:30. p.m. We passed a lot of construction on the outskirts of Xi'an, where entire new neighborhoods of apartment buildings were being built. After an hour's drive, we arrived at the Shangri La Hotel. Craig asked Mary about getting some more water, and she told him there would be 2 complimentary bottles in the hotel room. Her started to explain that he needs more water than the average person because of his MS (something that the tour company should have conveyed to them: we know they conveyed it to Karen and Mr. Chou), but she was already directing our luggage into the lobby and didn't hear him. We got to the check-in desk in the fancy Shangri La Hotel, and Mary was nowhere to be found. They asked us what name the reservation was under. I gave them our name, but they didn't have it on file. I didn't know what other name it might have been booked under. A nice bellboy named Kel who is a college student in Seattle befriended us and led us over to a couch. He waited with us until Mary returned. We completed the check-in process. It was 6 o'clock, and Mary asked what time we wanted dinner. Although we could have used some time to freshen up and rest after a long day of siteseeing in the heat, we suggested 6:30. We wanted to be back to our room at a reasonable time so that we could go to bed early. Kel took us up to room 1402, a beautiful corner room with two walls of windows. The sun was shining in and it was absolutely beautiful. Kel even refused a tip. He was a very nice kid. After a quick rest, we met Mary in the lobby at 6:30. She walked us (literally) across the street to a restaurant, ordered without asking us for input, and then left us. There were no drinks, or tea, just hot water. Since the meal was included in our itinerary and she had already paid and left, we were kind of stuck with whatever she had ordered us. We hoped it would be good. The waitstafff was too attentive and we felt like we were being watched, since there were few other patrons eating this early. The food arrived: beef with peppers, hot and sour soup with noodles, veggies in sauce served in an iron chafing dish with a fire under it, rice, and tofu. It was all delicious; Mary had indeed known what she was doing when she ordered it. When we were done eating, we set out in search of water. We walked around the corner and found a convenience store after several blocks. It was empty when we entered, but by the time we left, it seemed like we had drawn a crowd. We bought 2 large bottles of water for 6 yuan ($1). We didn't want to buy too much as we only had one more day before taking a flight, but now that we knew where this store was, we could return tomorrow if necessary. We walked back to the hotel, cleaned up, and I wrote in the journal. At 9:20, a woman rang the bell and before I had time to get dressed she said "Turn down service!" Since we were already in bed, we didn't require turn down service, so I called back, "No thanks, we're in bed, it's ok..." but apparently all she heard was "thanks...ok", so she unlocked the door and poked her head in. She saw me trying to cover myself and apologized profusely, backing away from the door. It was a "Lost in Translation" moment, for sure. I continued writing in the journal and we went to sleep at 9:50. |
 Saying goodbye to Karen  An artisan hand-details a terra cotta horse figurine  Pit #1  Pit #1, Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi'an  Location of the well dug by a farmer in 1974 which led to the discovery of the terra cotta army (Pit #1)  A terra cotta warrior undergoing restoration, wrapped in plastic wrap as his glue dries. Pit #1  A terra cotta warrior undergoing restoration. Notice how many separate fragments were put together for his head alone! Pit #1  Terra cotta warriors, Pit #1  Pit #3 - High ranking officers conferring on the left, horse stable on the right  Pit #2 - logs and bamboo mats burying the warriors  Kneeling archer terra cotta warrior in display case in Pit #2. Note the detail on the sole of his shoe! These archers operated crossbows.  Meticulous detail of the tread of the kneeling archer's shoe - Pit #2  Detail of kneeling archer's face, Pit #2  Meeting the farmer who discovered the warriors while digging a well in 1974  Bronze Chariot #1, the Emperor's bodyguard 
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