Xian and its Terracotta Warriors.

It is our last (half) day in Beijing, the plane to Xian is going to leave early afternoon.  Given the activities over the last few days, this morning is a bit blah, blah, blah.

Ok, another bus ride gave us the opportunity to view some of the buildings/housings and gardens built for the  Olympic games in 2008, plus a view of this famous "nest".

A great Chinese lunch experience closed our stay in Beijing, and off to the airport to take the flight to Xian.

First time to take a Chinese airline (China Eastern Airlines), we had an hour delay due to our previous evening sandstorm affecting now Xian, but when the "air cleared" boarding was very fast and efficient.  And we had a wonderful ride with a rather good meal in a super clean aircraft.

2.5 hours later we arrived in Xian to be greeted by our next (and again exquisite) tour guide "Mary", who whisked us off to another Chinese meal. We seem to be moving from one meal to another - but surprisingly, we actually lost a few pounds during our stay.  Must all be due to the delicious green we were eating ....

Xian, with a downtown population of only 5.5 million people has, nevertheless, a lot of traffic jams, and our ride to the Kempinski hotel took quite a bit of time.  But is was fun to look at the urban scenery, families using their e-scooters to move all kinds of stuff on their vehicles and weaving like crazies through the traffic, with some small children on the back of the scooters seeming to sing along while riding ...  This is not like Canada with its bike lanes, helmet requirements (not in China), and other restrictions.  And these Chinese drivers are ... good!  During our stay we only saw one fender bender (which, of course, blocked traffic for miles!).

Anyway, we arrived at our Kempinski "abode" ... the hotel has 2600 rooms, and is just ... ? Amazing.

So was our room, and our breakfast ... we did not want to leave!!!!

However, the main attraction (apart that this is another city dating back 3000 plus years, we are getting used to these 2000 to 3000+ references!) are the Terracotta warriors.

The Terracotta Army or the "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" is a collection of clay sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, dating back to 210 BC. It is a form of "funerary art", where the warriors were to protect the emperor in his afterlife. A bit difficult to refer to this site as "funerary art", when mass graves of the artists were discovered alongside the excavations.

The figures were discovered in 1974 by a local farmer, who, in turn, lost his livelihood (farming his fields). Irony is, that US President Clinton, on his visit to China and the Terracotta Warriors, wanted to meet this farmer .. and so he was brought out from obscurity and given a job at the Terracotta Museum, meeting the president; he still signs the museums books which are highlighting the excavations.

About 70,000 people (and again, we as Westerner's are clearly in the minority) visit this place every day.

Of the 8000 warriors and artefacts on exhibition, this is just a small display, not extending to the burial ground/mausoleum of the Emperor, which is another 1.5 miles west of here, and under a mountain of hard packed earth.  The legend is that the mausoleum depicts the Emperor's life accomplishments and that he was buried with a city of palaces, towers, and other valuable artifacts. Furthermore, 100 rivers had their flow through this landscape, which were simulated by mercury, and that the ceiling of this mausoleum was decorated with heavenly bodies.  Indeed, recent investigations of the soil showed extreme levels of mercury, and investigations are ongoing to find ways to excavate these sections of discoveries.

And these horses are half-size depictions of the Emperor's chariot in bronze - "half-size", because the Emperor wanted to look "humble" when facing after life.

 

We are used to look at the "Terracotta Warriors in "earthly" tones, as do we look at statues in "stone colour" from Greece and Rome, or when admiring the Mayan temples.

 

However, these statues, Mayan Temples, as well as the Terracotta Warriors, had been painted in brilliant colours.  Something, our Western mind has to get used to ...

 

 

As a "souvenir" we brought back a General: back pack size, however!

 

 

The day is not over, yet!  Xian is famous for its Jade, off we went to a State owned Jade Factory.  A surprising experience.

 

 

 

In the history of the art of the Chinese empire, jade has had a special significance, comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. Initially, jade was used only for the finest objects, cult figures and for grave furnishings by the Emperor of for high-ranking members of the imperial family. However, due the rising income in China by "ordinary" people, jade has now become a "sacred item" for Chinese families and is been given (from tiny to large) to children at birth or at weddings, and this particular item will accompany this person throughout his or her life. All our guides showed as their respective jade pieces.

You wonder how they carve these items.  Above, three moving balls in one. 

And this one ???  $93,000

 Or that one ?

We were impressed ... but did not buy ....

And so ended our day in Xian.  But we had another great evening exploring the treasures in our hotel.

And tomorrow, another flight to Wuhan and Jingzhou to bring us to our cruise ship on the Yangtze River.