Xi An — terracotta at its best

Posted under Southeast Asia 2009

Xi An, the ancient capital of China and home to China’s first emperor. We arrived by plane after making a quick change in Beijing. Cut it a bit narrow as we not only had to change planes, we also had to change terminals, as the domestic flights leave from a totally different area than the international flights. We managed to make it with the assistance of a young baggage fellow, who spoke a bit of English. Rather a rude arrival in Xi An, as it is raining and considerably colder than we had become accustomed to. Oh well — not to deter us as we have come to see the terracotta warriors, and that we shall do — regardless. With the assistance of our hotel, we arranged for a car and a guide, who are to meet us in the A.M., and so they did.

 

Now China’s first emperor, who was previously mentioned, managed to bring the many different groups under his own leadership. This was quite a feat, as they had previously spent all their time fighting each other. As he was patting himself on the back for this accomplishment, he also appointed himself emperor of all of China. I suppose that he enjoyed this position in life so much that he decided to carry it on into his afterlife, and thus the terracotta warriors. One must give his head a shake to remember that all this took place over two thousand years ago. Some ten thousand life sized soldiers were made from clay, and fired in very large kilns. These fellows were comprised of several different bodies, depending upon their position in the army, and their rank. They were also equipped with weapons, such as crossbows, spears etc. The heads of these individuals were cast separately, allowing for different facial features, and hairstyle, defining rank. These individuals were then painted in life like colors. In addition to the warriors themselves, there were also cast horses and chariots, a most formidable army to any invaders in the afterlife. Only about 10 percent of these antiquities have been unearthed, as the paint on the warriors deteriorates very rapidly when exposed to the atmosphere. The archaeologists have chosen to keep the remainder as is, until a method of keeping the paint can be developed. The tomb of the emperor is known, but is not being opened at present, for the same reasons. I guess that it stayed covered until the 1970’s, so any additional time is nothing in the big picture.

 

Our thoughts of Xi An were of a small community, basically there to support the terracotta warriors, —- wrong, this is a big city, several million people, as I guess befits the former capital of China. It was also the beginning of the Silk Road to Europe. Speaking of silk, we did go to a factory where they did the silk thing, also the terracotta thing, and oh yes, we did get samples of each. I suspect that one day is not enough time to do justice to Xi An, but then four days doesn’t scratch the surface of China. Our guide and our driver help us with our now “way, way too much luggage”, to the night train, for our trip back to Beijing — the final bit of our holiday. More to follow —

 

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