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Published: September 1st 2005
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Hi again,
The train from Datong to Xi'an is 18 hours, so when they told me there are no sleeping tickets I didn't go for the seat again. I went to a travel agency and paid commission for a ticket. There is probably a deal between the train company and the travel agencies, because even if you can't get a ticket at the counter of the train station, the travel agencies will always get you one, for a commission...
Apparently there is something illegal there, because when I got on the train there was somebody already in my sleeper. After a short argument I understood that he is getting off in a few hours, and they thought it's OK to double sell the sleeper for a few hours. After some more arguments they moved him to a seat for the last few hours of his ride (it was day time) and gave me the sleeper. A typical story in China, did I already mention that?
I arrived to Xi'an in the morning, and after settling down I went out to explore the city. I had already visited the city about three months before, but back then it was only for a
few hours. Already in my first visit I liked the city. The combination of old and new, the impressive wall surrounding the city, the clean, wide streets, the crowded Muslim quarter, the main square in the middle of the city with people hanging out and flying kites, all were very welcoming.
I spent the day walking in some of the sites in the city. Started at the Small Goose Pagoda, a 45 meter tall building from 707, sitting in a monastery, and having its two top floors damaged in an earthquake. From there I went to Daxingshan Si, a Buddhist temple sitting in the middle of the new city. Nothing new there, seen many before, but I like wandering around in temples. The last stop of the tour was the Big Goose Pagoda. This pagoda was built in the center of a temple as a fireproof storage area for the many scrolls and sutras brought by Xuan Zang, a monk who traveled to India for 15 years. The name "Goose" for the pagodas is maybe from a tale about a goose who saved Xuan Zang when he was lost in the desert. The big pagoda is over 60 meters tall,
A fat Buddha
Daxingshan Si. and it wasn't damaged in the earthquake...
The next day I went to see the biggest attraction in this area - The Terracotta Army. The army is believed to be guarding the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, who united all the separate kingdoms of China around 220 BC, by conquering all of them. He was also the one who started the building of the Great Wall. Before he died he ordered to build a huge army and they were supposed to protect his tomb. The strange thing is that this army wasn't mentioned anywhere in writing, and more than that - it was only discovered by a peasant sinking a well in 1974. This fact, and the fact that so many clay soldiers are manufactured today as souvenirs and look exactly the same, make some people say that the whole thing is just a big hoax by the Chinese...
Anyway, the site has three underground vaults. The smaller ones show how the soldiers were found after the diggings - most of them broken to pieces. They have some soldiers that weren't broken on display. The biggest vault has many soldiers in combat formation, and in
A saint
Thought only Christians have circles around the head of their saints.
Daxingshan Si. the back of the vault there are soldiers in different staged of reconstruction and gluing. The soldiers were holding weapons made of bronze and wood, and the bronze ones are on display in a museum. Everything made of wood was burnt, including chariots and the roof. It is believed that after the death of the emperor the people burnt his tomb and his army because they didn't like the way he ruled (the building of the Great Wall was quite difficult, I guess). Some bronze chariots are also on display in the museum, and they were brought from the tomb itself, about 1 km from the Terracotta Army.
All and all the site is quite disappointing, mainly because you get the feeling that not the whole truth is revealed. Even if the site is real, it is not stated if the soldiers in the big vault were found the way they are displayed, or how many of them are reconstructed, and so on.
The next day I went to the Muslim quarter and visited the Great Mosque there. It's the largest mosque in China, built in 742, and really looks like a Buddhist temple rather than a mosque. Only the
Old and new
Daxingshan Si. Arabic writings and the head covered people inside reveal the truth.
Every day in Xi'an, when I had some spare time, I went shopping for things I couldn't find in Beijing. Mainly for calligraphy. Bought some nice Chinese calligraphy, some of which was made on the spot for me according to my requests. Right before I went to the train station on my way to my next destination I went to the post office in order to send another package home. I guess it was too late (about 40 minutes before closing time...) and they really didn't want to help. They made up excuses for not sending it, but the truth was revealed when one of them said that if I return in the morning everything will be OK. No arguing helped me this time, and I had to carry the whole thing with me on the train, hoping it would survive the trip. Did I mention that China is frustrating?
Until next time,
R.
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Sheila McCormick
non-member comment
Great Help
I teach Elementary Special Education. We are reading a children's book called The Magic Treehouse Day of the Dragon King. Your pictures were great to show my children. The soldiers really came alive to them. Thanks