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Xi'an: Terracotta solidiers and town

Xi'an Travel Blog › entry 6 of 18 › view all entries

David & I traveled to China in May 2007: We spent the first 7 days with a Friendly Planet Tour & last 2 weeks on our own. This is quick telling of our travels. We loved the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Ming Tombs, jade stores, tea farms, Beijing, Harley Davidson (Beijing), Guilin, Li River, Yangshou, Suzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an, Terra Cotta Soldiers...the food, street scenes,tourist traps, scenery, museums, gardens & most of all the people!China is a Hoot! We LOVED it: anyone can do it on their own!

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Xi'an: Terracotta solidiers and town

May 6, 2007

terra cotta soldiers

Xi'an is a destination we need visit again. We were with a tour and it was wonderful and informative but it was difficult to see things and we would have liked to visit longer every where we went....

The city wall is very famous for being intact. You can actually rent bicycles and ride around the top. We didn't get to do that. Also, There is a large market place that we missed. It would have been fun to walk around there.... I never did find scorpions on a stick .... That was the one thing I wanted to try and didn't find... (BUT..... would I have been able to actually take a bite??? hmmmmm)

We didn't get an opportunity to visit the tomb mounds and we felt it would have been interesting. On our return we will go on our own and perhaps join a tour for something after we get there....

6 comments

6 smiles

cmgervais says:

I just loved these warriors... what a fantastic site.

My husband tried the scorpions, but I took a pass :^)

Posted on: Aug 25, 2008

brownh27 says:

Hi I think the museum is free but ebntry to the Terracotta army is buy bought timed ticket only (about £12 for adults). From the pictures I have seen on TV it looks like you can get up quite close and although some things are behind glass not every thing is. Don't worry about your photos they are great, but being there really must help get the atmospher.

Posted on: Feb 16, 2008

sylviandavid says:

I forgot that the exhibit is in London..... Does it cost to go to see them in the B /M ... We were so far away from them. we could get close to the ones in the glass cases but the glass was filthy.. so our pictures were not so great..... I zoomed in on photo shop for detail on the close-ups. Sylvia

Posted on: Feb 15, 2008

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Xi'an .... terracotta soldiers

May 6, 2007

soldiers lined up.

XI'AN: wow.
We were amazed at the terracotta warriors. Pit one had 6000 soldiers standing in formation. We were told each one took 3-4 months to put together as they were like a 3 dimensional puzzle. They were originally discovered by 3 farmers during the huge drought in 1985 (I think) they were digging a well: they kept finding pieces of pottery then finally found a head. they were really upset by it and tossed everything back in and covered it up as they thought they might get in trouble. One of them said he thought they should report it but the other two said no. He came back with his family that night with a cart and dug up the items again.

looking across the area.... the shortest distance across

They hauled them to an archeologist's house and within a very short time Xian was famous. One of these farmers was at the gift shop and would sign a book for 300 yuan. That's pretty steep as you had to buy the book too.
The original soldiers are (they are pretty certain) modeled after the actual army. No two heads are the same. They were lucky likeness's were enough as the emperors thought nothing of burying people alive with their bodies to serve them in the after world. They were mass produced although many details are different depending on their rank or job. They have dug up and put together over 6000. but .... when they were dug up they were brightly painted but within 5 minutes in the air the paint oxidized and turned to grey.

terracotta soldiers

The Chinese are waiting for the technology and are waiting to dig up the rest (I would estimate about 1/4 are dug up from the mounds in the bunkers) The valley where Xin's tomb is has 17 other uncovered tombs.
Xin (pronounced chin) (the emperor) had 750,000 people working on his burial site for 30 years. He began to rule when he was 13 and he was the one who developed the road system., the silk road to Europe, made the coins in China the same dominations, unified the different factions in the country and joined the great wall pieces together. He was not popular when he was alive and his dynasty lasted only a few years when he died.
We exited through a large shopping area they just put in: yikes.

Amy and Vivian at the gift shop in Xian. Amy was the regional guide for xian and Vivian is the friendly planet guide...

They had whole skins of dogs and cats. (There was a Collie looking one and a black and white cat) Being westerners we were repulsed but I guess someone will buy them. I thought it was a weird thing to display because NO WAY I would stop at a shop if they were hanging in the entrance.
We went to a dinner show that demonstrated different regions in music and dance. We had a great meal and loved the performance. (We did not think we would but it was outstanding) When got back to our motel we decided to go out to the piazza. The actual town of Xian was really nice. It has an original city wall portion still standing built over 800 years old: the city center had a huge fountain and music playing. We walked and said hello to people. There will little cars for people to rent for their kids and it seems like half of the town was out. They are so friendly and sweet to us. They cannot stop staring at David the giant.

4 comments

7 smiles

easyjobrob says:

Sorry..not sure what happened there..this is the pic:..but you already found it :)

http://www.travbuddy.com/photos_popup.php?pid=1442931

Posted on: Feb 12, 2008

easyjobrob says:

The city walls are one of the few remaining after the cultural revolution..the shame of Xi'an is the heavy industry pollution...(this pic of mine shows what I saw last time I was there: but the Terracotta Warriors are a must.When I was there last they were "rennovating" one of the shed..now I understand that capitalisim has reared its ugly head there too...*sigh*...hope you are loving China BTW...I love it there and will be back soon.

Posted on: Feb 12, 2008