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Day Three-Saturday, April 7 (Warm, sunny in 70's)
Today was another very full day of learning more about ancient Chinese history and visiting historical sites near the city of Xian. We started the morning with a trip to the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum which is about one hour outside of the city. On our way to the museum our guide gave us a history lesson on the Qin Dynasty which ruled from 221BC-206BC. The emperor (whom actually created that name for himself) started his dynasty by waging war on all surrounding lands in hopes of uniting the country under his rule. Because he was afraid that the peasants would rebel after the warring, he confiscated all of their weapons and melted them into statues for his dynasty. Emperor Qin (pronounced chin) thought very highly of himself so he employed most of the chinese population to work on two major projects which were building the Great Wall of China and building his tomb. The emperor thought that if he built a large tomb filled with his surroundings he would continue living in his afterlife much like he did on earth. His desire for a tomb took 40 years of hard labor building rooms over a 56 km area.
For protection in his tomb he had the chinese artisans make soldiers out of terra cotta which would protect him from his enemies in the afterlife. Hundreds of soldiers, horses and carts were made from clay and placed in the tomb facing east where many of the emperor's enemies lived. More soldiers were placed around the outside of the tomb facing outwards to keep watch as well. Unfortunately, the emperor died unexpectedly while inspecting his tomb. Immediately following his death, the nearby villagers who had suffered greatly under his rule rebelled and seriously damaged his tomb smashing the Terra Cotta Warriors into pieces. In 1974 the Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered by local farmers. The site became a major archaeological dig and continues to be worked on.
While life under the Qin Dynasty was cruel, the emperor was responsible for enforcing one standardized written language for all of the 54 nations in China. This still holds today, however, they continue to have many different spoken dialects many of which are unrecognizable to fellow Chinese people outside of the regions.
On our way to the museum we stopped at a local pottery shop to see how terra cotta figures are made today along with many other clay pieces and lacquer furniture. A factory guide showed us the different types of warriors based on their uniforms and the direction of their hair. The hair bun pointing to the right was a soldier and the hair bun to the left was an archer who also was on bended knee. I have included pictures of this process with the workers shown carving and forming the clay.
At the museum we walked through buildings which covered the pits of the tomb. The many soldiers that are shown in the pits are replicas which were created to show how they would have stood over 2000 years ago. The original warriors were greatly damaged and some have been pieced together and stand on the far side of Pit #1.
After the museum we enjoyed a traditional chinese lunch which features many different appetizers and entrees on the revolving glass turntable. All restaurants that we have seen feature round tables which invites more conversation and symbolized the importance of relationships among friends and families. At lunch we had many meats, egg drop soup, vegetables prepared many ways. As Americans we are quite inept with chopsticks but we all try diligently to eat with the chopsticks at every meal. It does get easier with time and I hope to get much better before the end of my stay.
Following lunch we came back into the city and visited a beautiful folk art museum. An art student walked us through the museum telling us the history behind the many types of folk art. We saw farmers art which depicted scenes of country life, figurines which represented the signs of the zodiac (very popular here), drawings on silk canvas depicting ancient life and the ancient art form of calligraphy. The art student led us in a class on calligraphy which included learning the 8 basic strokes used in all calligraphy. She told us that artists practice drawing the chinese symbol for "forever" until they have mastered it because it features all 8 brushstrokes. She also told us the four items necessary for all artists are the brush, paper, ink dish and stamp. A piece of art is not considered finished until it has been given an official stamp. The museum featured artwork for sale by local art students in the Xian Art School.
Our dinner for the evening was downtown at a restaurant which again featured multiple courses on the turntable. Our tour guide, Richard, picks out all of the restaurants and the items to be served in advance. Because the number 8 is considered a lucky number in China (many Chinese use the number 8 in their personal lives to promote good luck-even our motel rooms all start with the number 8), Richard picked out 8 cold appetizers and 8 hot entrees for our meal. Again, these are brought out continously and placed on the turntable. We turn the glass table to move the food around and use chopsticks to place the items on our plates. The plates are very small, much like the size of a small cake plate we would use in America. Tonight's meal had a few new items such as fried lamb, fried chicken (yes, the picture you will see is the deep-fried head of the chicken) and a small fried fish similiar to smelt. The meal was "very good" (pronounced "hen how" in Mandarin).
Our final activity of the night was to travel to the North Square of the Pagoda (where we visited yesterday) to see the water and lights show set to music. The park is very large and features water fountains which come up from the concrete squares in the middle of the park. The show is set to lights which radiate through the water and a variety of music. We even heard a John Philips Sousa march which is great water fountain music. The pictures from this event are quite beautiful with the Big Goose Pagoda in the background. There were a few thousand people in the park watching the show. We stood in between two fountain squares which was like having front row seats.
Upon coming back to the hotel, a group of us decided to walk through the streets to experience the night life of the city. As you will see in the pictures, there is no shortage of fast food restaurants here which can also be found in America. The menus are pretty much the same and the prices are also very similar to what we would pay at home. I paid 11 yuan for a McFlurry which is almost $2. Because the streets are so busy with traffic even at 10pm at night, pedestrians cross the streets by using underground walkways which are at most intersections. This makes it very easy and much safer to get across the street. There are many food cart vendors out at all times of the day and I've tried to capture pictures of some of the mainstays we see daily such as the pineapple cart and the sausage skewers. There are also other vendors selling fruits, treats, books, clothes, etc. Unlike other countries, the Chinese street vendors in Xian do not approach you to buy their items. However, like many other countries, all purchases through vendors (other than the department stores) are negotiated prices. They will have a posted price and then they expect to negotiate with the buyer. From my previous travels, I have become a pretty good negotiator so the other administrators have decided that I get the award for staying firm and getting the best deals.
The people here are very friendly and many are curious to see us as we clearly look like Americans (not to mention that our guide always carries an American flag around to help us find him). Some of the group members have been asked to have their pictures taken with the young Chinese teens since they think we are a novelty. The people here seem genuinely happy and we have heard from various Chinese people that the Chinese government has made great improvements to the lives of the people in recent years. It is common to see young people walking down the streets with linked arms female to female or arms around shoulders male to male. It is very apparent that friendships/relationships are a very important part of the Chinese culture. I have a feeling that finding a Chinese friend will be a friend for life.
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