Xi’an

The Terracotta  Warriors of Xi’an are kind of a “must-see” when in China.  So we saw them this weekend…

In 1974 four farmers were digging a well and came across fragments of this long buried clay army and by 1979 they were open to the public.  They were built by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.  They believe there are about 8,000 of them, each one completely different from the next and with details as minute as fingernails and earlobes.  The site is still a working archeological dig and we couldn’t decide what was more painstaking and impressive- building them in the first place or putting them all back together now…

 

They are an incredibly impressive sight by an apparently cruel, but also undeniably impressive emperor.  He was also the one that began the Great Wall.  Not bad for someone who ruled for less than 20 years. 

We even got to meet one of the last surviving farmers who found them…

After the warriors we  went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda that was built to house the Buddhist relics brought back by a monk from India as well as the site where he translated Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. 

The more you rub the happy Buddha belly the happier you will be!

We caught a cultural show that evening centering around the Wang Dynasty, the most prosperous period in China’s history.  It was interesting how this music and dance has survived over 1000 years both from written records and being passed down orally. 

We unfortunately had an early flight Sunday afternoon and missed seeing the city wall that encompasses Xi’an or any of the other sites.  As predicted by a few of our friends, Xi’an was a must, but not the most thrilling of weekends.* 

China weekends letting you down a bit?  Me too.  But, don’t despair- I really think the best is yet to come.  I mean come on, next weekend is Chengdu and ****HELLO**** we get to see and hold baby pandas!!!  Oh, and there is this Buddha the size of a mountain there too.  Yes, yes, I’m excited about the Buddha, but he’s sharing the weekend with #2 on life list, so it’s a little difficult for me to get that pumped about him.  Sorry, giant Buddha!

Pics from the weekend…

 

 

 

*Although, I’d say it was pretty exciting to finally get to see our friends from Argentina! Best of all, after this week they are in Shanghai!!