Today
started with cloudy skies, some haze and a temperature about 15 C. After breakfast, the group met in the lobby, loaded on to
the bus and were driving out to visit the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses Museum
by 8. It was a short 40 minute ride,
about half on a two year old toll road.
Our jackets were not needed by the time we arrived in the parking lot
and could leave them in the bus. By noon,
the temperature was about 24 C and the sun was shining for part of the morning.
The streets here are clean,
and people cycling and using electric motorcycles.
The Terra Cotta Warriors and
Horses, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers
digging a well due to a drought. They
dug into the crypt containing clay fragments and realized they needed to report
their discovery. Since the government of
China owns everything below the surface, the few farmers were given ¥
20 each (about 4.95 Cdn $ today), which was a small fortune to the farmers, 40
years ago. The site now takes up over
100 acres.
The
emperor
Qin Shi Huang, China’s first Emperor, was the name sake for which China
was named. Qin is pronounced like Chin thus
becoming the country’s name China. The Chinese name for their country
translates to “Middle Kingdom”. At age
13 in 246 BC, Qin Shi Huang became king and then, over the next 25 years, united
other kingdoms to create China for the first time. He began the first portion
of the Great Wall, created a common script for writing and a standardized
currency as well as weights & measurement for the whole empire.
He
started to plan his mausoleum soon after he became king and designed the
warriors to guard him in the afterlife. Emperor
Qin Shi Huang died over 2,000 years ago at age 49. It took over 35 years to complete the
mausoleum using over 700,000 labourers for the project. Most labourers were killed when their jobs
ended, in order to keep the secret of the tomb’s location and contents.
After
passing through the entrance to the site which is divided into the four
sections, we were ushered onto 12 person golf carts to take us to the entrance
of the first building about one km away. It is the size of several football
fields. The first building contained the excavated Pit #1 which also shows
where the farmers’ well was dug. The figures face east, the direction of the
Emperor’s enemies’ lands. It contains thousands of life-sized baked clay warriors,
archers and infantrymen that were buried in rectangular chambers with walls of
rammed earth separating each man and horse molded with its own distinctive features.
Walkways provide a good view of the entire excavated cavity of close to 6,000
broken, under reconstruction or reconstructed statues, and the area where the
reconstruction of the statues is painstakingly done. The statues were originally painted or
stained, but within days of exposure to air the colour disappears and they
appear gray. There are clothing details
of function of the warrior and the faces are all unique, so far. The hair style of the warrior indicated the
job he did. The top notch of an archer is on the left to not interfere with
retrieving arrows. Higher ranks no longer wear top notches. These soldiers were armed, but the crypt was
looted shortly after the Emperor died or some of the leather and metals have
disintegrated. The curators discovered
that the substance used to stick the head, arms and legs to the torso was
sticky rice water. The pits all have
brick floors on which the statues originally stood. You can see them clearly in Pit #2. The original Pit entrance was sealed off at
completion by wooden timbers and 2.5 meter thick rammed earth walls.
The next
pit contained what is thought to be a battle command centre, the figures form a
guard of honour facing each other. The last stop was Pit #2 where there are
terracotta horses, some of which pulled chariots. Here another 7,000 military
figures such as crossbowman, charioteers, cavalry and infantry in different
poses have been found plus weapons include a large bronze battle axe. In the
museum we marvelled at detail of the two reconstructed bronze chariots. One is
the emperor’s chariot had a movable awning to shade from the sun. It was a
fascinating 2.5 hour experience. We had
walked about three miles wandering around the buildings.
Next, as
we passed pomegranate orchards, we were taken to a workshop where Terra Cotta warriors
and horses are made in several sizes and sent to retails markets and the
attached gift shop. The company makes a
good quality product and ships all over the world. In the gift shop we had plenty of time to
browse and shop before lunch. There were
mah-jong and chess set of warriors, and many sizes of warriors, horses and
chariots; jade and pearl jewellery, reproduction Ming Dynasty furniture,
T-shirts, books, scarves, clothing and more.
Lunch was a Chinese food buffet including watching noodles made to add
to noodle soup, a Chinese pork burger, dumplings and assorted salads and
Chinese beer and soft drinks.
On the way
back to the hotel, Mr. Gao pointed out the 85 foot mound about 2 km from the Terra
Cotta Warriors location, telling us that it was Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s
unopened mausoleum. It has been X-rayed
and probed from the outside, but there are fears that there will be many traps
inside to deter grave robbers and the Chinese culture does not believe in
disturbing graves. Evidence has been
found that the legend of a mercury pond surrounding the Emperor’s body may be
true.
We were
back to the hotel around two o’clock and went exploring with a better map, from
my notes. We found Revolution Park where
people were getting ready of the holiday weekend. A small fair was set up with
a ferris wheel and a few other rides and concession stands. There was a pond with paddle boats waiting to
be used. We even found a group of several dozen people ballroom dancing. We
watched them waltz and then do a dance that looked like a combination of swing
and two step. Then we walked to see the provincial government buildings and the
park across the street from the complex, before returning to the hotel to get
ready for the dinner outing. We had ambled
about 3.5 miles.
At 5:25,
we met in the lobby to go the optional Dumpling Dinner and Tang Dynasty musical
show. The venue was across from the southern wall of the Old City and at a spot
that we passed yesterday on our walk along the wall. It was only about 3 km
from the hotel. As we crossed the bridge over the moat, Gao pointed out several
sidewalk barbers giving clients haircuts. Gao related that the haircuts include
no styling, at the cost of 10¥ (about 1.90 Cdn $). The
dumpling dinner was good with warm rice wine to start, and a choice of Chinese
beer or a soft drink. We sat with Rose and Gary, who are late in life
newlyweds. We could keep the menu and show program as a souvenir. The show was about 65 minutes of beautifully
costumed dances giving the audience an idea of the beautiful songs and dances
of the Tang Dynasty, but with a sound system a too loud for us. Plugging your ears brought the volume to a
reasonable pitch. The group returned by 9:30 and I completed the day’s blog
before bed.
Total distance walked today was just over seven
miles, a little more than half of yesterday’s distance.
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