This past weekend, we all went to Xi'an (西安 which literally translates to "west peace"), one of the ancient capitals of China. We had to leave early Saturday (June 11) morning to catch our flight. We left our apartment around 6:15 to get to the airport and catch our 8:30 flight to Xi'an. We all commented that, after our 13 hour flight from Detroit, we were still not to thrilled to be getting on another airplane! Once we landed, we were met by our tour guide for the weekend. Because we only had a limited amount of time in Xi'an, we went straight to Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Museum (more commonly known as the Terracotta Warriors) without checking into our hotel. On the way to the Terracotta Warriors, our tour guide gave us a brief history of Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors. She told us about how they were discovered in the mid 70's by a some farmers digging a well. They were ordered to be built by Emperor Qin around 200 BC to guard his tomb after his death and ensure that he would remain in control after his death.
We visited Pit 1 first, which is the largest pit and contains about 6,000 warriors. It was amazing to see all the warriors which were precisely aligned in different attack formations. The front of the pit where we entered was almost entirely uncovered and the terracotta figures were reconstructed.
Towards the back of the pit, however, people were still working to un-bury the figures and reconstruct some of the destroyed figures. It has been hypothesized that someone had broken into the pit because many of the figures had been smashed, there was evidence that someone had set fire inside the pit, and many of the weapons had been stolen. After exploring the first pit, we got a quick lunch before heading to see Pits 2 and 3.
Pit 3 was much smaller than Pit 1, only containing about 70 figures. Although it was quite small, the pit contained some horse figures, which were cool to see. There was also some displays about the history of the Terracotta Warriors, including some of the best preserved figures that we could see up close and some pictures of the Terracotta Warriors when they were first un-buried and still had paint on them. Looking at the Terracotta Army, it was hard to imagine them all painted and colorful!
Then, we headed to Pit 2, almost none of which has been un-covered. The only parts that had been uncovered contained a lot of broken figures yet to be reconstructed. There is a fourth pit that is not open to the public but is just an empty underground structure. It has been guessed that when Emperor Qin died, work on the Terracotta Army ended and the project was left unfinished.
Finally, we visited a museum in the area which contained some relics found in the pits, including tools, pots, horse skeletons (I guess Emperor Qin needed real horses to help defend his tomb?), and more. The museum also contained the two brass chariots which were found in the pits.
After finishing exploring the pits and seeing the Terracotta Army, we visited the Huaqing Hot Springs, which was like a summer palace for the emperors of Xi'an. It was very similar to the Summer Palace in Beijing, but was still very beautiful and less crowded.
The theme of the Hot Springs, however, seemed to be "this pool was built for this emperor's favorite concubine and this pool was built for another concubine." Still, the area was very beautiful and we did get to put our hands in the warm water from the springs.
After wandering around the hot springs for a while, we headed to a dinner/show evening at a local restaurant. First, we saw a music and dance show that highlighted many traditional Chinese songs and dances. Many of the dance told stories, including one about young girls in spring time, the history of an emperor, and a war dance. The most incredible song was done by a man who could play two trumpets and was trained to sing like a bird, aka very high-pitched!
After dinner, we ate a delicious dumpling dinner, a specialty in Xi'an. The funniest thing was that some of the dumplings were shaped like animals; the fish dumplings were shaped like fish, the duck dumplings were shaped like ducks, and so on. The last type of dumpling we got to try were these little dumplings the size of a penny that were cooked into a soup. The number of these little dumplings you got in your bowl of soup determined your fortune. I got two dumplings (the most of anyone at the table), which means double-happiness! After dinner, we headed to our hotel to check in and then walked around for a little while but we were all tired after our morning wake-up call so we just went back to the hotel room to watch a movie and crash.
The next morning, we had a continental breakfast at the hotel, which wasn't that good. It was not what I would consider a breakfast, but they did have some good orange juice and bread. After eating, we went to the ancient city wall and decided the best way to see the wall was to rent some bikes and ride around the top of the wall, about 9 miles total. It was a nice bike ride, but slightly bumpy in some areas because the stones on the floor were all worn out and some were broken. After finishing our bike ride, we went to an art museum in Xi'an which had few different types of art, including traditional farmer's art, shadow puppets, paper art, and more. Then, we got to test out our artistic abilities as we attempted to draw some Chinese characters. We were also shown one of the most complicated Chinese character, which is for a special type of dumpling in Xi'an and contains 57 brush strokes!
After the art museum, we headed to a factory where they make replica Terracotta figures. We all got to make one using some clay and a mold. After we all made ours, the owner of the store judged all the figures and I got first place and won a small jade necklace with the Chinese symbol for happiness on it (福)!
We then grabbed a quick lunch before heading to the main Buddhist Temple in Xi'an, where we climbed to the top of a seven-story pagoda.
There was also an area where you could write prayers on these wooden planks. It was very neat to see all the prayers in different languages and from all over the world. It was also funny to see how many of the included prayers for a 4.0 GPA! After climbing to the top of the pagoda, we also met a couple from Bilabo, Spain. One of the members of our group's native language is Spanish so we both went over and had a brief conversation with them. They were very nice and it was also fun to practice my Spanish a little bit, something I miss doing everyday!
After visiting the pagoda, we headed to the main plaza in Xi'an, which is filled with fountains and has a water/fountain show every couple of hours. The fountains were all set to music but, during the show, the plaza becomes a great place to run through the water and cool off a little bit after being in 95+ weather all day.
Finally, after the fountain show, we went to the Muslim section of Xi'an, where there were a lot of great places to shop. I personally liked this market better than the ones in Beijing because the sellers weren't as pushy. You could actually stop and look at stuff without suddenly being surrounded by eager sellers. We also walked through the mosque for a little while before heading back to the bus to head to the airport.
Xi'an is definitely a city worth visiting and having a tour guide the entire time was helpful because we were able to make the most out of only two days in the city. We never would have been able to see everything we did if we didn't have someone taking us around!
The best discoveries of the week about China:
13 yuan = $2 DVD's
20 yuan = $3 books from street vendors
Pretty decent cafeteria food at the Univesity. Even better: it is subsidized by the government and therefore only costs about 8 yuan = $1.25 per meal
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