Visiting the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World: Terracotta Warriors


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April 24th 2014
Published: April 24th 2014
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Without a doubt, one of the highlights that we anticipated for this trip, was the opportunity to visit the terracotta warriors near Xian. We shared a table at breakfast at the Sheraton where we’re staying for two nights in Xian, with the Canadian couple that organized the Easter Day meeting aboard the Viking Emerald. A favorite topic among fellow travelers is which the preferred direction of travel for this cruise is: From Beijing to Shanghai or the direction of our trip from Shanghai to Beijing. The way we do the trip, the true highlights build towards the end, culminating with the terracotta warriors and then the Great Wall on our final day in Beijing. Some feel it is better to do the major attractions up front, then get on the Viking Emerald, and then to relax for the remainder of the trip. I tend to think that we got it right, because there is always something major to look forward to. Whatever side you fall on for this argument, there is no doubt that the Sheraton puts out an incredible multi-station breakfast buffet. And the fresh squeezed orange juice is just that, and delicious as well.

April was the first person I’ve heard refer to the terracotta warriors as the eighth wonder of the ancient world: Can you name the original seven? Most people can’t; although, they probably would guess the only other one that still exists today, the Great Pyramid of Giza. After today’s visit, one really can appreciate why these ancient treasures should be considered in the same list as the other wonders. It was about a one hour drive to where the terracotta warriors can be found. Originally these artifacts were re-discovered by a farmer out working his fields. He didn’t know to make of the clay statue fragments that he found; or, whether he should be afraid or whether they were of any significance. In the end, he did report his find. Several experts came to check out the meager findings, until one came who knew the history and legends and significance of what the farmer had discovered. The "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China about 200 BC. The purpose of this army was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. Arnold noted that when a man achieves this kind of power, he realizes that being the emperor is a pretty nice gig, and in the case of this emperor he intended to be an emperor in the afterlife as well. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were more than 8,000 soldiers. So far, 1,000 of these soldiers may be viewed in the first pit. These statues, buried upright, stand in formation. The rank of the soldiers can be determined by the arrangement of the hair. One bob in the hair is for the common soldier, the infantry man, or the archer. A boxy headpiece adorned the officials; while, a general would have two bobs in the hair. What is amazing is that this army did not survive intact. The broken pieces have had to be painstakingly put back together. The first warrior took over eleven months to re-assemble. Today, with sophisticated 3-D imaging software and computers, photographs of the pieces can be taken, analyzed and assembled using directions produced by the software. Re-assembly times have been greatly reduced.

We arrived at the entrance, and were glad that we were here on a weekday and not on a Saturday dealing with weekend throngs. The cost of a ticket is about $80. A golf cart transporter moves people, about one dozen per car, from the parking lot up to the entrance. You need your ticket for two checkpoints, and before you get in all bags, purses and backpacks get checked. April suggested that we checkout the bronze chariot room first; well, not quite first. First, everyone that needed to, got a chance to visit the “Happy Room”. Sharon reported that the restroom featured both western style and Chinese style facilities; however, she was glad that she had been warned to bring your own toilette paper. The remains of two bronze chariots were found in the excavation, which were planned for the emperor’s use in the afterlife. They are half size because that’s the largest bronze they could make in those days. In the hallway outside this exhibit the farmer who originally found the first pieces when digging in the early 1970s was there signing books. He’s now in his 80s so this is his job. We of course purchased one of the books.

Next we went to the first pit, which is a massive covered excavation, showing columns of soldiers, most facing east. When a pit is excavated, soil imaging technology is used to identify where artifacts are, and where the dirt is simply a separating barrier previously used to support a roof over the massive army. So far, 1,000 soldiers have been identified. There were a couple of work sites where people were doing the painstaking excavation and piecing together Individual warriors. Originally, these life-size warriors were very colorfully painted, but these rich blue and red colors would become dust within just a few minutes of being excavated. New techniques have been devised that help preserve to preserve the color as well, but most of the warriors in pit one appear in their natural clay color. Sharon and I took turns taking pictures of this incredible site, and we understood why Arnold had warned his group to fully charge your camera batteries the night before, because you will take many more pictures than you imagine.

We spent about 40 minutes in pit one, before moving on to pit three. This was the smallest of the three pits, and least far along in archeological finds. The ground has been imaged, but the excavation is just beginning. It appears to be a meeting area for the officers. We then moved on to the second pit. Here a few warriors and horses have been re-assembled. In glass cases along one side of this building were various warriors that have been resurrected. There was an archer, an infantryman, a warrior without armor in a martial arts stance, and official and a general. The details of each figure are incredible, and no two are alike. All facial features are unique, and it is believed that each figure is modeled on an actual warrior or the artist making it.

When we were done viewing the pits, we exited into the gift shop. I purchased a bronze set of the terracotta warriors that included an archer, horse, infantryman, official, and general for 1,200 Yuan. We’d spent about 3 hours at the museum, and after a brief Happy Room stop, we were glad to be on our way though it was a very long walk back to the bus. They bring you up by the golf cart but you need to walk out so you can go thru the shopping village which was quite extensive. According to Sharon’s pedometer it was over a mile walk.

We stopped for lunch for another traditional Lazy-Susan Chinese multi-course meal. Sharon found a number of dishes to eat, including the chicken, rice, beef and potatoes, and roasted potato wedges with an interesting sugary coating. I tried a free sample of a local treat, being made in front of the hotel by two men taking turns at pounding peanuts and walnuts into a thin puff-pastry like substance that was quite tasty. They took turns in a steady rhythm using large wooden mallets and it was quite entertaining.

Back at the hotel again, it will never stop to amaze me how our driver is able to navigate through the heavy traffic. I’ve mentioned that traffic signals really are just suggestions. And while the Chinese have a notion of left, right and straight ahead, and their traffic signals have indicate that by often showing left, right and straight ahead arrows; but, the times that they different often seem to make no sense, such as left and right, but not straight ahead. Each time our driver drops us off at the Sheraton he must make a U-Turn in a busy intersection on a green light when the opposite direction also has a green light. What is worse, he can’t make that U-Turn from the left-most lane. Just now, a competing driver tried to sneak by on the inside left most lane, but wound up in a position where he was going to have to back up into the busy intersection… I hope he’s not still there! It caused our driver to hesitate, the first time I ever saw that happen, but once he realized to that the other driver really was between a rock and a hard spot he inched our bus forward and finally got the on-coming traffic to stop (he just had to wait a couple vehicles until a much smaller car approached). Once that happened it was “Game On”!

Some people decided to take the fifteen minute walk to the South Gate of the Walled City; and, one couple actually made it down there and back. These were the much younger couples though. We decided to kick back, relax, and of course write up the morning’s events in this blog. Our 6:30pm re-assembly time approached soon enough, and we would be off to the Xian Tang Dynasty Dinner Show. This is an optional tour so those who didn’t sign up for it were taken to the same building as the theater but for a different meal. Dinner is a 7-Course meal and the theatre is a lavish tiered rectangular theatre with a large up front section all on the lowest level of the theatre with a good view of the stage. We sat at the rear of this center-section and on the edge, looking towards the center of the stage from our rear most seats at a table-for-six and all of the parallel tables were pointing forward towards the stage. I will say that from the food service point of view, this table is probable the worst to be at. Three people at our table never got their dim sum final course; and, it took extensive effort trying to capture anyone’s attention to get the course before that one for four of the people at our table (only because Sharon didn’t want the oranges with palm seeds. The Pearls of Cathay was what we all thought was a most delicious pork dish with a mild barbeque sauce on it; but, the complimentary menu and show program (which is very ornately done) says that this dish is actually chicken fillet bits with the chef’s special sauce with dumpling specialties. Sharon tried one piece and decided against eating any more after much coaching and assurances that it would be fine. Okay, she stuck her tongue out and tasted the surface, made that famous “Shirley Smirk” and only ate a few pieces of it. The Royal Marriage black mushroom consommé came next, and I think I must agree with another diner at our table the so far, the Chinese soups seem to be too often little more than bouillon with one or two small ingredients with any substance. In this case, two pieces of black mushroom, and two of something else. In the case at the dumpling place yesterday, one tiny dumpling. The Heart of the Dragon course was the crispy fried prawns with honey glazed hazelnut and special dressing, another course that Sharon decided to skip. These courses came with a complimentary bottle of water, one glass of beer or soda, and all of the complimentary room-temperature rice wine that you could drink. Arnold had told us that it is only 2 or 3 percent alcohol; but even in the tiny ceramic cups it can add up over an evening. And the servers kept these cups full. The Princess’s Pin is the dish Sharon had been waiting for: a baked tenderloin served wrapped in aluminum foil with rice and vegetables. The server grabbed Sharon’s knife and fork, plunged it into the aluminum foil, opening the top to reveal the chunks of tenderloin. Unfortunately it came in saucy juices with the heavy presence of tomato; still, Sharon picked at the meat, rice and vegetables. They were good, and something more western than the steady diet of Chinese cuisine that we’ve been getting. The next two courses were the Willow’s Melody and the After Dinner Delight that we had trouble getting. The dessert dim sum were four each of a cookie-like dim sum with small sweet black bean filling and the second was a very tasty sesame-dim sum. In looking at the menu now I realize that we all also missed out on the final Ecstasy Herbal Jasmine Tea course. ** sigh ** The show afterwards featured dancing and musical numbers in an elaborate four part performance. The highlights included hand plucked string instruments with a Pai Xiao solo musical presentation.

Afterwards, it was back to the Sheraton, to pack and sleep and get ready for the final leg of our vacation in Beijing.



(The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria are the other wonders. How did you do?)


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25th April 2014

Thanks for the pictures and message!
Hi Sharon & John, Thanks for all the info! It sounds very interesting. Glad I'm reading it and not doing all that walking. Guess I'm getting old. Also thanks for the photos. It helps seeing and knowing a little of what you are seeing. Enjoy your trip and Sharon hope you continue to find food that you can eat. It sounds like you are doing pretty good in that area right now. Hope it continues. Looking forward to your next blog. John enjoy all that good food they are serving. Janet

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