Joe's original plan was to fly back to KL on Friday (remember, I am tagging along on his business trip.) But when I was looking up tours in Shanghai, I noticed a one-day trip to X'ian to see the old city walls and the Terracotta Warriors! Now Joe has been to China several times. He had already been to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. However, the one thing he had always wanted to see was the Terracotta Army, but X'ian was never close enough to any place he was. So, I talked him into taking the day off and doing this trip. It was a loooooong day. We were picked up at 5:30 am from our hotel, driven 45 minutes to the airport, 2 1/2 hour flight to X'ian, and all back again in the evening. But what a great day!!
Here is one of the doors leading to the old city walls of X'ian. Now the Terracotta Warriors were found in a field by a farmer, only in 1974. I was expecting X'ian to be a smaller town. And it is, by Shanghai standards. Population of X'ian? Over 8 million!! The size of NYC! But 600 years ago, it was small enough to be surrounded by a wall.
Joe and our guide, Lucia. She was waiting for us at the airport.
The walls surround the central part of X'ian. That is a moat you see on the right. The walls go for 13 km, or 8 miles. You can rent bikes and ride around the walls. We just didn't have enough time for that on this trip. Like I mentioned, the walls are 600 years old and the only complete remaining city walls in China.
Sitting like royalty
Next, we were taken to the factory that makes replicas of the warriors, from clay taken from the same region as the originals (or so they believe.) We had actually seen a couple of documentaries with this factory in them, and were excited to visit!
Couldn't resist!
Here is an army of miniature warriors.
Waiting to dry completely.
The clay is pressed into molds then taken out and joined. This woman is smoothing out the rough edges and adding more details.
I love the way she is illuminated by the skylight overhead, while being surrounded by headless warriors.
On to the warriors. We had to drive a ways out of town, and to the museum. The museum was actually built around the warriors, who are in their original locations, for the most part.
Our first look!
The signs on the right show where the original well was. The farmer, who was 20 at the time, was digging a water well and discovered the warriors. That farmer comes to the museum every day, to sign his book and for photos. We actually saw him, but didn't get his picture.
This pit holds around 6000 warriors. The warriors were ordered by Qin Shihuang, know as the First Emperor, who unified China 2200 years ago. They protected his tomb. For some more information,
There are about 8000 warriors, all different!
Originally, most of the warriors held some sort of bronze weapon. The bronze weapons were stolen centuries ago.
Some of the warriors have been found in conditions beyond repair.
But here are some under repair. The one lying down is getting foot work done.
This picture cost us $3, but worth it! :)
There were actually three pits. All the previous pictures were taken in the first and largest pit. This area had a large number of kneeling archers-- but not yet dug up. It turns out that these warriors were all originally painted. But when they are dug up and exposed to air, the paint quickly fades. This section is being kept buried until the technology exists to preserve the paint.
Here are some pictures taken right after being uncovered. X-rays show that the warriors still uncovered are painted.
I can't tell you how many times the movie Mulan came to my mind! :)
What a great week in China!
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