Travel to Xi'An

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Saturday 6/25—one week into the trip!
Thursday 7/7: added pictures; tried to add video of the bell concert but it was too big.

Up at 4:30, did last minute packing and emailing, then off to Xi’an—home of the Terra Cotta Warriors, my main reason for coming. The hotel packed us a box breakfast: sandwich (mystery meat that we all 'thought' was ham), hard boiled egg, water, and a very good egg. Gave the egg to Hunter, the resident vegetarian, washed off the apple and enjoyed. Since we are flying internally, we’ll be leaving from Terminal 2, not so busy, it sounds like.

The flight was a good one, served us breakfast, and I was able to catch up on notes from the last few days.

Last minute (on the way to the airport) notes on Beijing: 4 subway lines; 2 are run by a local company, 2 by a Shanghai company and they have different ‘rules’ (e.g., can eat in one, not in the other), very confusing for folks.

We’re flying from Beijing to Xi'An, a former capital of 11 dynasties, including the Tang Dynasty, during China’s “Golden Age.” Upon arrival, we met Nichole, a whirlwind of energy and information, our guide for Xi'An. We left our luggage on the curbside for the “luggage driver” to pick up and bring to the hotel; since we arrived at about 10, we can’t check into the hotel for a while. So, we got on the bus and headed into the city. One of the first things we saw was a coal-fired electricity plant which is only part of the air pollution problem. It was about a 45 minute ride into the city. Traffic is crowded here but a bit more herky-jerky than Beijing. Nichole provided lots of good info about the city—she is a ‘home town girl’ and very proud of her home town. Xi’an has a 5000 year history, currently has 53 universities. The Horticultural Expo is a big draw this spring/summer. Yalu River crosses the province. The Yellow Emperor was the first to unify small states in central China; he’s a legend but they have a tomb to him. Tomb Cleaning Festival in April, a 3-day holiday to go to your home town and clean the ancestors’ tombs, burn incense, and pray. There’s a big ceremony at the Yellow Emperor’s Tomb at that time. Everyone thainks they’re a later generation of the Yellow Emperor. Xi’an is the Ancient capital (Jhou, Qin, Han). Many Jhou emperor mausoleums are in the area.

First thing, we visited the Ba Xian An (Temple of the Eight Immortals), which is tucked away in a narrow alley and the most charming temple in Xi'an. We drove in, but the walk in would have been an adventure—the ride was a bit of one, quite a narrow road--with a flea market out front in some of the temple's old buildings. Inside the temple, monks, their hair tied up in traditional Daoist fashion. The folk legend of the Eight Immortals is said to have originated here during the late Táng dynasty. The temple murals feature the influence of Confucianism on its supposed alter-ego, Daoism. Very quiet, peaceful place. Again, lots of ancient incense burners, but more greenery and less people.

Then, lunch—at a hot pot restaurant. Nichole had made reservations at two places and we chose to try the hot pot. Each of us got our own ‘pot’ with boiling liquid (similar to fondue idea), the center lazy susan was filled with food including very thinly sliced raw beef and lamb, noodles, potato slices, eggs to poach (although one of us boiled it almost hard), and lots of vegetables. Separately, we each had a small dish of sesame sauce which we took to a sauce-fixin’s bar and dressed up with bbq sauce, chili oil, soy sauce, spring onions, cilantro, mashed garlic, chili peppers, whatever we wanted. That was, mostly, for dipping the meat in after cooking it. The meat was fairly fatty so I took that off before cooking; then, most of the flavor was from the sauce. Of course, the broth got better and better as you cooked different meat, veggies, etc., in it. While we were finishing up, Nichole went down to the Bell Tower and bought tickets for us.

Which meant that next we went to the Bell Tower, at the intersection of the center of the city. Originally constructed in the 17th year of Emperor Hong Wu’s reign of the Ming Dynasty, and moved to its current location in the 10th year of Wanli, the architecture is grand and the art is superb. We climbed to the top of the tower (steps are very popular here…) for a magnificent panoramic view over the city, as far as we could see. Nichole had explained that the South and West Gates of the city are where they were originally built but that the North and East gates had been moved as the city had expanded. True to that, we could see the south and east gates but not the north and east ones. While we were there, a group of musicians performed using the Qin era instruments and dressed in costume of the age. They must have been hot!! It was a lovely performance, though.

Next was a Walking Tour of the Xian City Walls. The magnificent and grandiose Xian City Wall was constructed in the early Ming Dynasty, and based on the Imperial City of Chang An (Everlasting Peace) of the Tang Dynasty. The Xi'an Wall is one of the best-preserved ancient walls around a city anywhere in the world, and the best example of a walled city in China. In addition to the ramparts, the wall contains watchtowers, moats, city gates and tower entrances. We visited the South gate, viewed the moat and draw bridge, walked the city wall for a while, peered down through the arrow slits and looked at the weaponry. Near the end of the tour, as we were gathering at the small coffee house, the wind whipped up, grabbed the umbrella from in the table, lifted it out of the table, lofted it across the way and whacked Nichole, our tour guide, right across the chest! It happened so fast; Kenneth (one of the students) was in the pathway and was able to grab it and knock it a bit askew but she really got hit. Drew (nursing instructor with us) went to the ladies’ room with her and determined that she was okay—will be quite bruised and should get it checked out.

So, we went to the hotel and checked in, which we were planning to do anyway. Great water pressure in the hotel! Everyone got a shower and changed because we had opted to have the dumpling dinner before the show we were to attend this evening, the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show. The dinner was a delicious treat—18 kinds of dumplings, in imaginative shapes: pork ones looked like a pig; fish like a fish, etc. Mitch found a piece of plastic in one of his dumplings and they gave him a bottle of wine to say ‘sorry’. He shared it all around so we all got a taste of Great Wall Cabernet. The show was a real treat—sort of a traditional variety show but of ancient design. The idea is that a Tang Dynasty Emperor had a dream and asked his favorite concubine to choreograph that dream and that was the first act. There were 10 stories in all but the last 3 were together. Quite elaborate shows, singing, dancing (classical, modern, ballet), and acrobatics. The guards was my favorite--quite acrobatic.acrobatic. Great show.

A majority of the girls here are very skinny, not just thin. We noticed that the front dancer in one of the routines was fairly anorexic looking, not very attractive to our eyes. The more normal sized dancers were to the back of the line. I think there were even a few non-Chinese dancers, men and women.

Notes from driving around: Xian is moving out of its original boundaries, taking farmland and moving the farmers into apartments. They’re paid once then receive an annual stipend but often don’t know how to spend or budget the funds. Also, it’s driven up the price of apartments, tee shirts, shoes, etc. Average salary now is y5000/mo ($800, same as Willy said in Beijing). 8.6 million is the population. Lot of farmers in the area; the province is divided up and an area is ‘assigned’ a product to plant. When they harvest it, it’s already been sold to a businessman (but the farmer keeps the profit). Younger people work outside the farm. Bell Tower is center of the city; streets all ‘wheel’ out from it. To the east, local shops; south, restaurants. The construction of the 1980s is being torn down; most construction is old at 30 years. If you have an apartment, it’s really a 70 year lease.

92% of Chinese are Han; the 5th Han emperor unified all the minority ethnic groups. The Silk Road was used by this Emperor to unify the minorities. The Mongols were bigger and stronger and went West to trade. Buddhism came from India 2000 years ago; Taoism is a native religion. Mountains divide the country. It’s very dry in Xi’An. In the north, they have wheat noodles and eat some pancakes. No noodles, no meal.

Dumplings & show: Cixi, the Dowager Empress visited Xi’An and wanted to taste the specialty of the region, dumplings. However, she didn’t like dumplings. So, being the charmer it sounds like she was, she ordered the cook, under penalty of death to himself and his family, to prepare a meal in which she could try the specialty but not eat dumplings. He knew that her favorite was chicken noodle soup so he made that with dumplings about the size of a fingernail. Cixi loved the soup, didn’t know what those little balls were and was told that they were dumplings. Everyone lived! (for a while, at least). Tang Dynasty, 1100-1400 years ago; Xi’An was the capital, pop about 1 million, 10% were foreigners as students and businessmen. The west part of the city was for the international market; east for domestic. The show was created by an emperor and his favorite concubine.

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Photos

Toll Booth
I noticed this on the way in last Monday (Sunday?) but it was 2 a.m. and too dark for pics, even if i'd known where my camera was. Kind of like Epcot except it was real

at airport in Xian
we had to leave our luggage for the baggage driver to get it later. kind of thought it'd be the last time we'd see our luggage but no!

0625507Xncoalfiredelectricplant
big part of the reason for so much smog--coal-fired electricity, and sand from the Gobi Desert