Xi'an

The Warrior Army

On our train from Beijing to Xi'an, we were sharing a berth with a lovely Chinese family, who all spoke very good English. All the Chinese people we had met were very friendly and particularly helpful whenever it was required - which was generally frequent and this family were no different. The family were traveling back home to Xi'an (where we were heading) and soon proceeded to tell us all about the city, where to go and what to see and do. They had a funny young daughter who amused us for a fair amount of the train ride. I didn't realise at the time, but they explained that all Chinese people have two names, a normal (Chinese) name and a westernised or English version. When he pronounced his daughters name it must have been about 38 characters long and took almost a full minute to say. Then he told us it translated to Emily!!! I wondered what my name would be in Chinese.

Xi'an is a beautiful old city. It forms one of the oldest cities in China and was once the countries capital during some particularly important dynasties. Surrounding the area are the old city walls. The whole place is filled with ancient tradition and history and you really feel it when you're there. On our first day, we didn't really do a lot. We walked the streets and down little back-alleys. It really felt like we were fused into real Chinese life. Near our hotel was a fabulous little street market. Most were locals selling and buying all manner of items. They had real Chinese street food straight of the stalls too, so I didn't miss the opportunity to delve straight in. I can't really put my finger on what it was that I liked about Xi'an almost as soon as I stepped off the train but I now think it was because the place felt a lot more personal.

The following day we decided to head over to the site of one of the most incredible archaeological finds in world history. About 40km to the east of Xi'an's city center is the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and his Terracotta Army. First our driver and guide naturally took us to a terracotta making factory where they explained how the army soldiers were made and asked if we wanted to then purchase some newly made statues, from ones that could fit into your hand up to full life sized models. I quickly explained that a 6 foot tall, two tonne teracotta warrior was unlikely to fit into my back-pack and we continued on to see the real thing.

In 1974, some local farmers were drilling a water well, in the Shaanxi Province (a suburb of Xi'an), when they stumbled across a pit filled with hundreds of life-size terracotta warrior statues. This discovery prompted archaeologists from all around the world to flock to the Shaanxi Province, to investigate. Today, they have uncovered four pits with over 8,000 army soldiers in total, and excavation still continues. Along with the warriors are approximately 130 chariots with 520 horses, 150 cavalry horses as well as officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. Each army warrior is classified by rank (e.g. soldier, general etc.) and every one is completely different to his neighbour, which suggests that they were directly modelled on real soldiers at the time. This is essentially the world's first Madame Tussauds gallery.

The Terracotta Army is a form of funerary art buried with the first Qin Emperor in 210 BC and consequently, they are also sometimes referred to as "Qin's Armies. Their purpose was to help rule another empire in the afterlife, as similar to ancient Egyptian practices. We headed over to the Mausouleum complex, where you can visit three of the pits and the museum which provides countless pieces of information on the armies construction and purpose as well as presents some of the artifacts that were found in the excavation pits along with the warriors.

Pit 1 is the most impressive. The area is huge, like being in an airplane hanger. There are thousands of army soldiers as well as some chariots and horses on display. They are all standing upright as though ready for battle at any moment. In some areas of the pit, they are still extracting more soldiers, while in other parts they are still piecing the men back together - it's a time-consuming process. Pits 2 and 3 get progressively smaller but still house some wonderful examples of the life-size men. We then had a walk around the museum, which is equally impressive and allows you to piece togther bits of information that you wern't treated to in the excavation pits. It was a fascinating experience.

On our way back to the taxi, we walked through a busy market where replica warriors are sold as well as thousands of books and other souvenirs related to the terracotta army. In one bookshop is a man signing books and taking photos with customers. His name is Mr Yang and he was the first farmer to discover the Terracotta Army in 1974. It was his farm that stood above one of the greatest treasures in Chinese history. Our guide said he was paid about 30 Yuan (£3) for the find and had to give up his farm. He was treated well by the government in the fact that they relocated him, but he is largely forgotten about in the grand scheme of things. We met him and shook his hand, a nice fellow that perhaps deserved more than he got - but thats life I suppose.

After, our guide recommended somewhere for us to eat and then took us to a very famous mountain in Xi'an. We took a cable car up to the top for great views over the city, despite the mist.

We later returned and eventually boarded our next train. Because there is no direct train from Xi'an back to Hong Kong, we would have to head back to our first Chinese stop - Shanghai, spend a day there and then later get the 20 hour ride back the way we came. Still, we hadn't seen everything in Shanghai (it's impossible in a couple of days) so we were glad to be returning for a second visit.........