We have now spent 2 days in and around Xi'an. Visited the downtown area that is quite modern and has no feel of an ancient city in spite of the 3000 years of history. Mostly there are modern buildings everywhere, some have a local touch though with their pagoda shaped roofs. There is also a Muslim quarter that had a few interesting older houses and a few scripts in Arabic on the houses. Unfortunately this area does not convey much of a feel of the way of life a couple of centuries ago, as it is now full of tourist shops and restaurants. Many shops sell sweets and dried fruits, maybe that is supposed to give the area the Near East touch? At the end of this shopping street is a remnant of the old city: the Drum Tower. Its counterpart, the Bell Tower is only a few hundred meters away. Both date back to the 14th century and were used to mark dawn and night with the tolling of the bell and beating of the drum, respectively. The downtown is surrounded by the similarly old city wall that is really huge with its 12m height and 18m thickness. It is possible to walk around town on the top of the wall: it is our plan for today.
Yesterday we visited the famous Terracotta Warriors, who guard the tomb of the first Qin emperor. Although more than 2000 years old, it has only been discovered in 1976 when a bunch of locals were digging a well in this area and found some pieces of the warriors. The founder is now a famous person in China and works for the Museum on site. He also gives autographs to the visitors.
The site is located about 1h bus-ride away from Xi'an. There are 3 major pits open to public and 2 more will be opened in a week. The biggest is pit 1 that contains supposedly about 6000 soldiers, all lined up facing east, except on the flanks, where one row of soldiers faces outwards. The warriors are standing in long corridors, separated by walls. They had to put them into this formation, because they were covered with a roof (and also by soil, as it all was meant to be underground) and the logs used were only that long. Only about 2000 terracotta soldiers have been excavated and reconstructed here. The rest lay underground or lay in small pieces scattered on the ground. According to the historians, after the death of the emperor, there was an uprising and his tomb was looted and the terracotta soldiers were destroyed and burned. This makes the excavation and reconstruction very difficult as it is more like a puzzle game. Allegedly it requires half a year to put one single warrior together. So far they found only one archer in an almost complete shape. One problem is that the soldiers are painted in 13 different colors, but a few days after they are excavated they lose this color. Now the scientists try to work out a method to preserve the color and will go on with the further excavation when they have found a solution. In pit 1 there are also a few chariots, pulled by 4 horses each, but as the chariots were made of wood, they have disintegrated.
The only pit that has been fully excavated is pit 3 with only 68 figures. It is supposed to be the headquarters of the army, containing many high ranking officers, a few guards and a wooden chariot.
Pit 2 again contains many warriors, but from different divisions. Unlike in pit 1, there are also archers (both kneeling and standing) and cavaliers and not only infantry members. Interestingly, the cavaliers are not riding their horses, but only standing next to them. In the pits one can only view the soldiers from a viewing platform, meaning the closest figure is still about 10-15 meters away and below the surface. Coming close up to a few soldiers is only possible in pit 3, where there are a few glass cabinets. Here one realizes the most impressive thing about the site: the details of the figures. Their clothing, their hairstyle, their facial expressions including their wrinkles are all remarkably elaborately sculpted, even the pattern on the sole of their shoes... furthermore, all 6000-8000 soldiers look different... quite impressive.. and all that hassle for a dead emperor...
An other surprising thing we learned was that already 2000 years ago they put a thin chromium cover on their bronze swords to protect them and keep them sharp. In the modern world this technology that we now commonly use on our knives was only reinvented in the 20th century.
I also have to comment on the technology used to make the 2m tall figures. The legs, that are solid, the body, that is hollow and the head that is also solid were made separately and the heads can still be separated. The horses are also hollow and have holes on the sides, probably to enhance the drying procedure. The tails can also be removed.
An other remarkable thing that has to be mentioned here: after a few weeks in Chinese territory Kaarel knows already 45 Chinese characters. He mainly translates the city names and metro station names with the help of Google translator. So his knowledge covers mostly geographic names. He also bought an interesting book that tracks back the history of a few hundred characters and shows how they originated and changed over time.
