Falling Goose, Burning Corn.

On my arrival to Xian, I was greeted by smoke filled air. The guide explained that it was harvest time and the farmers usually burned the unedible parts of the harvest, which in this case, was mostly corn. This probably added to my not too favorable attraction to this city, in spite of it's great main attraction, The Terra Cotta Warriors. Even the guide here seemed less personable than the others and even a bit cranky and xenophobic.

First stop was the Wild Big Goose Pagoda, a fairly simply designed building, yet I liked it in spite of it. The story of how the Pagoda got it's name, is that a monk was starving, so starting praying to the God's. A goose then fell down from the sky. However, instead of eating it, he buried it, and later had a Pagoda consturucted on that site.

Next was a newly constructed Museum shown on the photo. I remarked to the guide how it resemble the architecture of Japan, and he chided me saying, "they copied us, this is Tang Dynasty Achitecture". The Museum was so-so, since I've been to the National Museum in Taiwan, which is a tough act to follow. I also remarked to the guide, "hey look Sumo wrestlers", pointinging at a painting, and again he remarked, "no it's not, China had them first".

The city itself was improverished and unkempt in general, and lacked the building activity one sees in Beijing and Shanghai. As the Terra Cotta Army was only discovered in 1975, the city was probably realizing it's potential as a Tourist Mecca a little late, and was not quite prepared, it seems.

Then it was off to the Terra Cotta Army site, which was housed under a large but pretty plain building. No photos were allowed. Though, I feel it was a great discovery and a very important Archeology Find, somehow, I just didn't feel the electricity. Maybe if I had a choice of tradeoff in cities, I would have pick Suzhou or Hangzou. Maybe I'm more of a visual rather than a crannial person.

After once after one of our meals, the guide gave me a little lecture. He noticed that prior to eating, I would take various portions of each of the various dishes on the middle of the table, and place a little of each on my plate in the beginning. He said doing so, was not polite. Somehow, it was more polite to take what one wants, during the meal, using your chopsticks, from the dishes in the middle, in other words, double dipping. I was raised eating that way at home, but during the later years, our families change our style of eating. I guess in China, they still find it hard to break from tradition.

As mentioned in a previous post, I like to wander the city on my own, before the start of the tour, and observe the people in their everyday life. There was an elementary school nearby, and I often wondered if kids in China were free and happy as kids in American. Several times I would see photos of kids in China sitting with backs straight, with hands behind their back, while in class. Since school did not begin yet, the playground was full of noisy and playing children. Some kids seem to be assigned a special tasks, about 4 of them to stand at the entrance and whenever a teacher entered the grounds, to greet them in the top of their voices. The teacher would acknowlege them with a slight bow. In between greetings, the kids seems cheerful and seemingly to be joking with each other. Glad to see that even under a totalitarian government, kids can still be kids.

Only the first 4 photos are of Xian. The rest is of Beijing.

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