Terracotta Warriors and other

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Terracotta Warriors and other
We left Xian around 0900hrs. It was a long drive to the small town where Terracotta Warriors were being excavated. On the way we stopped at the Huaquing Palace commonly known as Hot Springs. The Palace was built by later dynasties. The palace was the summer retreat of the Emperor and his favourite concubines. There were a lot of small lakes (full of fish) around palace rooms. There were also many baths in different shapes and one wondered if they were influenced by the Romans with their techniques in water canals and endearment to bathing. The whole complex with small and beautiful walk ways around the gardens and palace buildings were built on the side of a high mountain atop which was another palace building (now with a ropeway to it). In their fervour for tourism it appears china is going a bit overboard with "restoration" as evidenced by new statues and roadside decorations as well. This was also visible at the accessible parts of the great wall.
It was not far to the Terracotta site. One of the greatest archaeological finds occurred by accident. Just a farmer trying to dig a well for water needed for his crops in 1978. When he came across some artefacts he reported it the archaeological department. When they started the excavation nobody was expecting anything as grandiose as this.
The excavations concentrated on 3 pits. To learn more we saw a video first and started at pit 3. This was a small dig. There were mostly broken figures of warriors and horses here. Apparently marauders/rebels had gotten in here and destroyed anything they could. The second pit also had mostly damaged artefacts. The first and the largest pit was had most of it undamaged. The parts that was not uncovered gave an idea as to how the roof was built over the Warriors, charcoal remains show an attempt at arson. On unearthing the figures still had some original paint on them which quickly vanished on exposure to the elements.
Looking at the figures they appear to have been moulded on parts. The torso was one, head another. The wrist and palms also appear to be made separate. The detail on them was unbelievable. There were even treads under their shoe soles. The finger and nail detail, (they had to be individual whether he was an archer or swordsman) and the liveliness of their eyes that they were almost alive. Each moulding then reformed sculptured and painted individually to get the diversity you see on each face and torso. Each had their military uniform according to function. The high ranking official could be recognized from his attire. The armaments they carried were of bronze or copper often chromed to enhance hardness and weathering, a technique that did not get to Europe till the 16th century.
After aligning the armada in columns, may be 3 or 4 in a row, the roof was made with beams supported by strong pillars on either sides. The beams were covered over with wood branches and reeds and covered over by earth. Unfortunately over centuries the pressure of earth was so heavy that it permeated the roof and filled the trenches. The excavators had a painful task of retrieving the damaged or undamaged figures. The men and animal figures survived better than the chariots. Which probably due its large footprint collapsed completely. It was surprising that there was so much left undamaged even after 2, 000 years. The first pit also had a lot of figures that was being repaired, hundreds of them.
After nearly 4 hours we returned to the car and headed up to the next attraction the Hinyangling Museum. There were two mounds which were burial chambers of the queen and emperor who came after the emperor of the terracotta warriors. He was less ambitious, did nit wage any wars and believed in "do not do anything and all will be done". The idea was not to anything but get things done in the natural way without forcing it. His warriors were not soldiers but ordinary people in gorgeous dresses. Instead of war horses he had figurines of cattle, goats and pigs adorning his funeral pits. His rule was a peaceful time for china. The museum was built underground one walking over pits over glass floors and had subdued lighting. While I liked the Huaqing Palace more Tessa & Ryan appreciated this one more.
It was short trip to the Airport from there and leaving Tessa & Ryan at the airport I headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest as my feet was still giving me problems after the long walks.
The next day recuperation day with the main item on the agenda was collecting the train ticket from Xi'an station and familiarise myself with the station conditions. While I managed to get the tickets without too much of a problem, could not go into the station as it was restricted to passengers only

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