The Might of the Qin

Wednesday, March 21
The Might of the Qin             

After a very restful night at the Golden Flower Hotel in Xian, we packed in a full day of museum hopping. The soft beds and fabulous pillows contributed to an ability to hop out of bed extra early, eat from a bountiful buffet...I've discovered that ordering an omelets and adding fruit and yoghurt guarantees satisfaction... and sprint to the bus for an eight o'clock departure.

We began with a real treat at a small painting gallery/museum-Tang Bo- where we saw numerous styles of Chinese painting including the brightly colored "farmer's paintings", in the primitive style of Chinese Grandma Moses painters. Folk art painting  in the Shaanxi local style ,and done well by the students at this school, was on display. We witnessed a calligraphy demonstration and learned that with just eight characters, one can write any of the thousands of Chinese signs. Then we all practiced with differing degrees of success. Now I'll be encouraged to put those calligraphy brushes to use that I purchased in Shanghai.

 Definitely motivated by the declaration that the local starving artists would profit from our choices, we perused the largess and made the painful decisions of which ones to buy. I could have taken home at least twenty! With the purchases carefully “tubed” for travel, we took a forty-five minute ride to the site of the excavation and preservation of the Terra Cotta Warriors. The anticipation was palatable as we neared the spot.

The trip to the warriors was about 45 minutes out of Xian amid fields of short green wheat and numerous derelict buildings nestled among the myriad of almost built  new housing. The number of buildings under construction has been staggering and one has to wonder if China is , indeed, headed toward the bubble that the US recently experienced. The story goes that a farmer in 1974 was digging a new well and came upon some pottery shards. With further investigation he found a brick floor and yet more pieces. He notified the authorities and, as they say, the rest is history....in this case over 2000 years of history.

 Emperor Qin (say "chin") had unified many areas of China, amassed an incredible army, standardized weights and measures and built the Great Wall. His accomplishments were not a bad legacy to leave. However, he had also begun building his tomb when he first became emperor, as was the custom. It was such an ambitious endeavor that it took 720,000 laborers and 38 years to compete.

 Being a believer in "you can take it with you", the emperor recreated a standing army complete with infantry, archers, chariots, horses, headquarter buildings and various paraphernalia all molded from the local clay. Each figure, whether person or animal, was unique with detailed facial features and clothing. Warriors even held appropriate weapons made of bronze and the horses pulled chariots constructed of wood. In Pit 1, the original discovery site, one can see hundreds of men that have been unearthed. Once constructed, the sites were covered with timbers supporting a roof of mats and clay.

The covered area in this pit is the size of three football fields and is thought to hold 6000 soldiers plus horses etc. Additionally, there are two other pits that are in stages of extraction but the work is tedious and the Chinese are proceeding cautiously as it has not been determined how to prevent the oxidation of the painting on the figures. Once exposed to air, the vivid colors disappear from the figures.

This is obviously a daunting task for the archeologists as they have determined there are 150 pits total to investigate. In any case, the whole experience definitely warrants its’ label as "eighth wonder of the world".

Following a sumptuous lunch on the grounds at the noodle restaurant, we embarked on the return drive and on to the history museum in the city. This lovely building is the home of record for documenting the chronological history of the region including the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties. Over 5000 years BC are recorded from potshards, bronze vessels and various items.

We pretty much galloped through eight thousand years of Chinese history in an hour...so much to ingest and so little time. We were reminded that the Chinese invented paper even before the birth of Jesus. One has to be impressed with this ancient country.

We managed to return to the bus with only one light purchase...six Chinese kites. But the day was not done yet. We went back to the hotel for an hour and a half to pack (bags to be out by 11 pm), dress and then to the Tang Dynasty Theatre for dim sum dinner and a Las Vegas style spectacle commemorated in dance, song and music. This time we not only got unlimited beer with dinner but a drink of choice at the floor show. Hooray for a vodka tonic that didn't cost $10 dollars or more. The show was lovely and the ancient Chinese musical instruments unfamiliar but interesting. However, for once it was good that these shows last a fairly short defined time with no intermission. 

We were tired and we were happy to be back at the Golden Flower and in bed by 10:30 in preparation for the 5:15 wake-up call.