Xian: China's Past

Just as we started to get settled into our rooms at Tsinghua, we had to pack up again and leave for our two week travel seminar. Led by Caroline, the seminar is a 3-credit class focused on the past, present, and future of Chinese culture. We will travel to three different cities in China representing the three segments of study. For the past, we flew to Xian located in the central area of Northwest China. We got to Xian in the evening and checked into our hotel. Lucky for me, there are an odd number of Beijing girls and I was given my own room. The days have been so packed with activities that by nighttime, it was nice to go to sleep with no distractions.

The first morning of our seminar, we were joined by the Syracuse University Hong Kong students. The whole dynamic change was a culture shock in itself. Our small group of 19 Beijing students were quickly put off by the energy change that we felt. With a large amount of people there is room for cliques and separation. With our small group, if one person seems left out, it is noticeable and so far, hasn’t happened. Another difference between the two groups is program content. As I wrote before, this will be a really challenging semester for us. For the Hong Kong students, they have no language requirement, a shorter semester, and internship opportunities. To sum it up, the energy shifted when they arrived; and, to put it bluntly, us Beijing students did not like the change. We had just spent two days establishing a very focused, excited and inclusive mentality and we felt completely turned off by the popularity contest that the Hong Kong students seemed to be entertaining.

The seminar is taught through lectures, readings, and site visits. Caroline is the main professor and has started the days in Xian with lectures on the early days of Chinese history. While we will learn a lot of new information, she made a point to say this two weeks will be very superficial because it can only skim the surface of every topic we discuss. Because China’s history goes back so far and has many contradicting elements, it brings up more questions than answers when one starts to study it.

Our first was at the Museum of the Terracotta soldiers. This was mind-blowing. As we were told many times, this is the “8th wonder of the world,” and very deserving of the title. The first emperor of China, Ying Zheng, wanted to eternalize his empire and essentially did so in his creation of this enormous underground mausoleum. Buried with him was this army of 7,000 terracotta soldiers, chariots and horses. Everyone has grown up seeing the pictures in history textbooks, but they can easily look like simple clay sculptures. It is not until you set foot inside the airplane hanger-like museum that you realize just how many lives went into creating this shrine to the first emperor’s life that it really hits. This man had such unwavering power over the land. While his reign was brief, he unified China’s system of governance, the currency, and the Chinese writing system. But with all the changes, he was a ruthless leader and buried many Confucius scholars alive under the mentality that in order to silence old ideas, you must get rid of them. What better way to get rid of people than bury them alive?

That said, it is quite symbolic that this man created the expansive tomb for himself. It took 38 years to build. The pyramids in Egypt took a little over 20. No two soldiers are alike. The attention to detail is unparalleled, but yet it was all built underground. It was only found in 1974 when some farmers were trying to dig for a well and their shovels hit some of the warrior heads. A man who had already been noted in history books for being the first emperor of china and having many notable contributions to the country’s history was given a whole new level of fame for something he had never even intended to be unearthed. Pretty incredible, right?

Our other time spent in Xian has involved seeing the Big Goose Pagoda (a Buddhist holy site), the nine mile wall around the city (built by the Qin Dynasty and the only remaining city wall in China today), and the Great Mosque of Xian. Also, yesterday we spent the afternoon going to a village about an hour from the town to see what life was like for a Chinese family in a semi-rural area. While it was interesting to see, I don’t feel that I fully understand what we saw in relation to other villages. This one had an artist in it that made the village seem more like a tourist attraction than anything else. It was obvious that there was wealth here. Sure, it was not like Smalltown, USA but these people did get cable for about 11 US dollars a year and had nice, large houses, and good clothing. I liked the concept of being introduced to a different aspect of Chinese living, but as our two large tour buses pulled up, I didn’t feel like our glimpse of this life was all that realistic.

I have to pack up, our flight to Beijing leaves in a few hours. The past few days here have been very insightful and a great way to see the beginning of the Chinese culture. With all these monuments lying only minutes from a huge city with 7-8 million people, it shows just how quickly time changes. This city has been the home to 13 Chinese Dynasties. Each had their own history and thought they could last forever, yet today, the capital is Beijing and there has not been a ruling Dynasty since 1911. I’m beginning to grasp little bits and pieces of the Chinese culture. I am fascinated by every bit I learn. I am eating a little more adventurously each day, however I did pass on the donkey penis that my friends all tried the other night. The Beijing students are all still my favorites and we definitely have a familial feel, but we are meeting some cool Hong Kong students in the process. I have not memorized any new Chinese words, but I have been doing cold reads from my phrasebook and the Chinese speakers in our group patiently correct me as I butcher phrases such as, “See you later” “I like these socks” and “Are you from America?” They say my tones sound very promising and once we begin the four hours a day I will be learning it all faster than I can even comprehend. While I feel they are just being overly kind, it is exciting to feel hopeful about learning this difficult new language.

Bus leaves for the airport in 45 minutes, I better pack up and go… Until next time, zai jian!

note: pictures to come

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Part of trip: Studying Abroad in China

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