8 Days with Shu Fey-Tuesday- Xi’an

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8 Days with Shu Fey-Tuesday- Xi’an



This morning we’re off early, up at 4:45 as we’re leaving for the airport at 6:00 am for an 8:00 China Eastern flight to Xi’an. This will be the only really early morning of our week. The airport is about 45 minutes away today as the traffic is not bad. Because of the APEC meeting here in Beijing, and the need to reduce pollution and traffic, many government workers have been given a week off to go on vacation, plus only cars with license plates ending in an odd number can be on the road today. This has all worked in our favor. The cool winds, coupled with fewer cars on the road, plus people going out of town on vacation, have left us with a less congested city and virtually no pollution. The pollution scale runs from 0 to 400. No pollution being 0, the most being 400. We have been at about 26…nice blue skies.



Our luggage was picked up from outside our room last night and will be pre-checked for us at the airport. Once we arrive at the airport Shu Fey hands us our tickets and we’re on our own to get through security, make our way to the gate and board. We will meet up again as a group at the baggage claim in Xi’an.



I find my seat on the aisle and Cope heads across the large plane to his seat. After about 10 minutes of people boarding, I notice a commotion over by Cope. Turns out he has someone else’s seat and he is actually supposed to be next to me. ;-) He makes his way over, a little embarrassed.



They fed us a full breakfast en-route and in just 2 hours we are in Xi’an. We retrieve our luggage, queue up with our group and head for the street. At the curb we leave our luggage for a truck to pick up and take to our hotel, The Sofitel. We get on our bus and are introduced to our first local tour guide who will take us to the Terra Cotta Warriors. Our guide regales us with stories of old Xi’an when it was the capital of China. We hear of dynasties and emperors, of cheating politicians and concubines. We’re doing our best to keep 6000 years of history straight ;-) Most importantly we hear about the Terra Cotta Warriors and how they were found in 1974 by some farmers. Over the centuries, many farmers knew there were things under the ground as they dug down and armed themselves with metal spears and knives that were buried with the warriors. However, for centuries at a time people also forgot about them, until 1974 when a local farmer was digging for a well. The farmer who made the discovery was actually in the gift shop, he is in his 80’s, and was signing autographs.



The site of the original well is marked in the warriors display, and if he had dug the well 3 yards to one side, he would not have found them! They estimate that 7000 warriors are buried here. Over 2800 of the warriors have been unearthed but only a few hundred have actually been restored and placed in their rightful positon in the warrior ranks. And, we couldn’t believe it, but there are many more warriors that have yet to be dug up or restored or categorized.



If you can imagine taking a pottery vase and smashing it on the ground along with say, another few thousand vases, and now trying to put each vase back together just as it was… you have a tiny idea of this undertaking. Most of the warriors, their horses and chariots have not been uncovered. They do not want to uncover them to the air until they can effectively restore them. Someday, if ever. For the warriors that have been excavated they built a $20 Million dollar building to keep the rain from destroying everything.



While we could see and study the warriors in all kinds of ways, there is just no way to really describe the impact seeing them in person has on our understanding of the magnitude of the project. It is almost inconceivable in its breath and depth when compared to seeing it in a book or on the internet or on TV-quite spectacular!



The Warriors were made at the behest of the 1^st Qin emperor. The whole project was part of his mausoleum-his burial plot-his tomb-to protect him after death. They began making the warriors 40 years before he died.



We had quite a bit of time to see each of the buildings with the excavated warriors. Lunch was a buffet at the Warrior Excavation Site. After lunch it was back into Xi’an to see the “city wall” built to protect Xi’an from invading hordes from Mongolia and other areas. Many people choose not to climb the wall, but we went for it and climbed to the top. Amazing to see how wide it was. It runs for 9 miles around the old city and is one of the only remaining city walls in China. You can rent a bike and bicycle all the way around if you want to. We passed on that ;-) Quite spectacular and interesting in the scope of how much work was done to protect the inhabitants of the Xi’an.



Since we left Beijing so early, it was time to head for the Sofitel hotel. Tonight is a Tung Dynasty Dinner Theatre. This didn’t sound to interesting at first but even though it was a long day, decided to do and are we ever glad we did. We able to snag a table to ourselves and the meal was served in courses with many things we didn’t know but virtually everything was delicious. The story was of the Tang Dynasty from 618AD to 907AD while Chang’an, now Xi’an, was the capital. The first segment was performed with musical instruments that were in use at that time. The second was about dances of the time and the third, THE TA GE a clog dance popular in the Tang Dynasty. It was a beautiful and engaging show.



Next, on to Chongqing and the Pandas

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Photos

Terra Cotta Warriors
Restored and in their Ranks

Jean at the Warriors
Outside Xi'an, China

The City Wall of Xi'an, China
Jean and Cope

Comments

[Rafael]

Xi'an
Xi'an is a great place. We celebrated Isaac's 18th birthday there! Then we did the bicycle ride around the top of the City Wall. Glad you guys are having fun! Be safe!