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Published: June 30th 2011
Xian hotel
what a lovely little courtyard! view from our roomSunday 6/26—Terra Cotta Warriors!!!
Our first stop was the Banpo Museum and Excavation Site. This site was discovered in the spring of 1953, and today is one of China’s most important cultural heritage sites. Archeologists uncovered a village from the Neolithic period (6,000 years ago), which at its height spanned some 50,000 square meters. We explored the excavation site, as well as the museum, featuring approximately 10,000 pieces excavated from the site. It was fascinating to see the structure and remnants of matriarchal society but also to see how it was excavated and how it’s being preserved. Plus, the building built of jade was cool!
About Banpo from Nichole: jade building, round and square buildings in the town; they knew fire; average age 40-45 years ; it was discovered when an industrial site was being expanded; they use a long post-hole digger type tool to get clay samples; there was a moat surrounding the village, no water, to protect them from animals and other people; there were dividers in the moat so that, if an animal fell in, they could catch it; when more than one daughter would inherit, the village was split; tombs contained 2 pieces of pottery,
Xian hotel
view from our room one for water, 1 for food; seasonally, animals were sacrificed (during the Spring and Autumn period 3-5 year old children were sacrificed); there were storage pits and ‘family’ labels; matriarchal: choose a partner for impregnation, out when successful, men hunt, gather, etc.; had kilns and made pottery.
On the way to the Terra Cotta Army Museum, we stopped at the modern day workshop which uses the same clay and techniques to make replicas and other pieces. They also do lacquer work, loop rugs, inlay mother-of-pearl, and do other crafts. We were shown the technique and examples and went into – you guessed it—the show room and sales room. This was a good thing, as several in our group wanted to purchase at least one warrior of some size or shape. We also got the chance to take our picture “as” a Terra Cotta Warrior. Gorgeous lacquer, and globes that we weren’t sure what they were made of.
Then, finally, we headed on to visit to the Qin Terra Cotta Army Museum. In 1974, a group of peasants digging a well, made what was to become the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century when they unearthed fragments of
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Jade building! a life sized Terra Cotta Warrior. Excavation of the vault revealed thousands of warriors and their horses, an entire army designed to follow its emperor into eternity. The site is located 1 mile east of the Qin Mausoleum, and the emperor's Terra Cotta Army was found in three underground timber lined vaults. Viewing the thousands of life size soldiers, standing in military formation with their vivid facial expressions frozen for eternity, was the highlight of the trip so far. Just amazing! There are 3 pits that are enclosed and set up for observation. The first is the largest and includes 8000 soldiers. Work to restore them is underway in the same area. A big problem is the color which fades completely after about 3 years—so unfair! I bought a book, of course! The one living farmer from the group who discovered the site was there signing books but no photos were allowed. It was truly cool. After viewing Pit 1, we went to lunch, enjoying several kinds of noodles, a local specialty. Another great meal! Then, on to Pit 3 and Pit 2. The last building housed the bronze chariots, as well as the bronze cranes and the stone coat
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model of the village of armor and helmet. The hall with the chariots was a mad-house of people jockeying for position. Both pieces were incredible, though.
After the chariots and before we were to meet, I spent another 10 minutes in Pit 1 just looking at the different warriors—life sized, all different. Just great.
From the guide: Wong Di, Emperor, became so at age of 12. In 221 BC, he defeated the other six states and unified the country. The first thing he did was change his title to Emperor of the Universe. From ;221 to 207 BC, there were 3 emperors); they adopted the province system, each had its own army, education system, etc. centralized his power, killed the prime minister who had killed all the other princes, and at 22 killed his parents, all his mother’s male concubines. Third thing he did was stndardize the coins, making them round with a square hole in the center (sky is round; earth is square); standardized writing, different speaking but same writing; ; burned books and killed scholars, except those writing Ching history. He built: 1)joined the Great Wall (8888.8 Chinese miles); 2)Urpum Palace, 40 times the size of
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more of the moat, with the division wall the Forbidden City, 45 miles from front to end gate; the next emperor burned it (fire for a month). The site has recently been identified and funds committed to the renovation work; 3)his tomb, begun at 12 years old; china unified at 39; 36% of the population(~72,000) were working on his tomb; Ch’ing Dynasty people liked to have girls because they stayed home; boys went ‘to the emperor’ to work on the tomb. 56 sq meters, 120 meters high hill; killed all the laborers who knew the secret passage, buried some in there, too. Inner and outer city; copied sun, moon, stars, etc., to take with him; 8000 TCWs: body made from mold, arms and legs separately but created each face differently. Baked clay from sticky clay, originally were painted. Weapons for the TCW were wood or bamboo and fell apart or were broken when the roof fell in; bronze weapons are in the museum so they won’t rust. Pit 3 is U-shaped with 2 wings and a stable up front. It’s the smallest pit. Pit 1 is 5 meters deep with 8000 TCW; Pit 3 is 7 meters deep and holds the guard of honor, the smallest but most
important group. It’s the headquarters and office, tactics were formulated here; all middle-ranking officers here. The emperor was very suspicious all his life. His warriors are bigger than the others. Not a ‘beer belly’ but a ‘general belly’. There’s no black ash in this pit. Most heads are missing because they were hollow and fell off during fire or an earthquake in the 1500s, probably. The bronze chariots were found in the 1980s, 2 half-size chariots. It took them 8 years to put it back together, piecing all the gold and silver pieces. The umbrella on the first one is also a weapon.
The Emperor Qin’s mausoleum is about 1.5 miles away from the pits. They’ve done x-rays and know where it is, have found a coffin and other items in that manner. They’re hesitating to excavate this as well as most of pit 2 because they’ve not developed/found a way to keep the color vibrant for more than 3 years.
One note from Nichole: between the Bampo discovery and the Terra Cotta Warriors discovery both being accidental, now farmers are calling the archeologists in every time they find a jar!
We then went to the Dà
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screens in the gift shop Qingzhenssì (Great Mosque), founded during the height of the Táng dynasty in 742, and one of the most tranquil places in town. To the right of the entrance is a hall filled with exquisite Míng furniture. In the living quarters to the left, debates on the scriptures and temple finances can sometimes be heard. The central courtyard has a triple-eaved octagonal pagoda from which worshippers are called to prayer. The call to prayer occurred while we were there and men were filing in. There are about 70,000 Muslims in Xian; it’s the 3rd largest Muslim city in China.
To get in to the Mosque (and back out again), we had to go through a market. There were some fairly aggressive vendors in there. We did a bit of shopping on the way out, trying to hone our ‘bargaining’ skills, with some success! It had begun to rain on our way to the Mosque and so we had umbrellas to keep track of, as well as purses and cameras. Could be a bit hairy!
We returned to the hotel, had snacks for dinner, packed up, took our luggage down for the luggage driver to head to the airport first
thing, and called it a night! Quick couple days in Xi’An!
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