Terracotta Warriors

can't believe

it is easy for me to moved by historied thing,maybe everyone has the same feeling too

I was not really impressed by the Terracotta warriors. The warriors are presented in a couple of big halls, full of Chinese tourists. It is quite expensive (for chinese standards) for 90 yuan as well.
I enjoyed climbing mt Hua Shan or walking in Xian's muslim quarter much more than visiting the Terracotta warriors. I hope my review will cause decreased expectations of future visitors, because in my opinion the Terracotta warriors are overrated. Of course it is an attraction you 'cannot miss' while you are in Xian, but I wouldn't go to Xian only for the warriors.

I must say the yesterday I went to Xian's infamous Terra Cotta Soldiers Site. It's so big and overwhelming. I definitely reccomend anyone that comes to northern China to take some time and go see the Soljiz(as my SA friend calls them), do get a tour guide as it is much more inspiring when you know what was going on 2000 years ago(this was brought up repeatedly by Linda, our tour guide). We did however go there in the winter so there weren't long lines. It is however near 0 temperatures.

You must see them when you are in Xian. They are world famous. And the soldiers really have different expressions and hairdo's. You can just tell they were individually made by artists. And there were so many of them. It was just really impressive. I saw them back in 1997. And of course the history of the First Emporer is well known by the Chinese (if you don't yet know, you will sure learn about him when you visit), even though he was a "bad" ruler, he had such influences in history that we must be awed. Especially after they found all these terra cotta soldiers who were made to be buried with him, to guard him. Supposedly some wise advisor convinced him that terra cotta soliders were better than real people, because they would last longer and protect him longer. Thank to that, we have an incredible archelogical treasure for all to enjoy. Ah, and none of the reproductions I have seen do any justice to the real thing.

As to the "best season" to go, I was there in the July, and it was fine (don't remember it being real hot).

I get to check off another on my list of sights to see in my life. This trip has been great. Sometimes when you see a historical site it often disappoints you, this didn’t. It costs $15 to get in and that is a deal.

700,000 workers worked for years to build the warriors. They were built by emperor Huang to protect him in the after life from his enemies. There are over 10,000 warriors uncovered so far and they don’t know how many in total there might be in the area. The archeologists stopped excavating new areas because the warriors began to degenerate. They need to find a way to stop this before they begin excavating again.

The excavated area is divided into two pits. Pit 1 has over 6,000 warriors in battle formation, including horses. It looks like each warrior has a different face, hairstyle, headdress, and uniform. Each warrior has all the weapons that he carried and the armor appears to be layered. It is a simple site, but an incredible sight. Inside the museum there are hundreds of artifacts including full statues so you can get a close up inspection.

The old farmer who found the warriors while digging was in the museum signing books. A local celebrity.