Xi'an,eastern beginning of the Silk Road and ancient capital of China.
To day,after the visit of the most impressive(for me) highlight of our Chinese trip,the Mausoleum of the First Emperor(see next entry),we are going to see the Shaanxi History Museum.On the way,we had a"technical" stop and I was surprised by young Chinese selling local wines(The Chinese are making wine since thousands years).After the Museum's visit,we had to attend a calligraphy course and I was there,in spite of an enthusiastic teacher,absent-minded,thinking to go for a ride in the Xi'an streets however I gave back a magnificent squiggle.The next visit was still an imposed one:a Jade factory, before going to The Great Mosque and finally to the airport and fly to Shangai.
THE SHAANXI HISTORY MUSEUM
Located one km northwest of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda,it is the China's first modern museum and a complex of buildings of Tang and modern architecture.As the Shaanxi Province was the birthplace of the Chinese civilization and Xi'an the capital of China over 1100 years,this museum shows the development of the Chinese civilization through thousands of objects,mainly excavated in the Province.It has 3 types of exhibitions:permanent,special and temporary exhibition.
- We saw only the permanent exhibition which mainly shows the Shaanxi ancient history from 150000 years ago to the year 1842(Opium war).
- On the first floor halls are displayed the objects from the prehistoric periods to 206 BC:pottery,stone tools,fossil skull,water and wine vessels,weapons...musical instruments like bells,bronze mirrors.
Zun(sacrificial vessel) wine container Western Zhou dynasty 1046-771 BC - On the second floor,the exhibition shows relics of the HAN dynasty(206 BC-220 AD) and Northern and Southern dynasty(386-589) like bronze coins,mirrors,vessels,pottery of figures with many women,warriors and musicians figures.
- The third part of the exhibition displays relics of the SUI(581-618),TANG(618-907),SONG(960-1279),YUAN(1271-1368),MING(1368-1644) and Qing(1644-1911) dynasties.
As 20 years ago ,I have haunted the auction rooms being a poor collector of Chinese antic pottery of the Han (or supposed to be!) dynasty(I could'nt afford the very expensive relics of the Tang dynasty,the more beautiful and scarce ones.),I was very interested by this museum displaying lots of Han objects such as one Empress seal,jars , squatting women and horses.
In driving rain,we saw the Ming City Wall,one of the most complete in China surrounded by a deep moat,stretching for more than 13 km,12 m high with every 120 m(the range of an arrow shot), a rampart extending out the main wall .
Then we had a glance at the Drum Tower,used as a timer and in case of emergency and at its"sister building" located a block away, the Bell Tower,the symbol of Xi'an, which marks the geographical center of the city.It is a well-preserved wooden tower with dark green tiles, built in the 14th century .
WSQARE had load a good review and interesting pics,in particular nightpics of Xi'an and don't miss the very informative with amazing pics, SYLVIANDAVID 2007 China blog!
Terra Cotta army of the first Qin Emperor,Liu Qi's mausoleum, Great Mosquee and Wild Goose Pagoda
The Emperor's tomb in the center of the mausoleum is similar to a topless pyramid of 32 m high,one gate of the high walls surrounding the tomb had been unearthed and opened to the visit.
The Empress's tomb much smaller is 450 m away.
Around these tombs,there are tens of burial pits which contained thousands of terracotta goods:animals,wine vessels and human figures of servants,female and male warriors...for the after life.
The nude and semi-nude,one third life-size,armless figures of warriors were placed in battle formation and formerly had wooden arms and clothes
disappeared over years.
The Chinese authorities have built an interesting underground Museum which exhibits 10 outside pits surrounding the Emperor's tomb and people can walk over some of the pits and view the ongoing excavations.
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Said to have been founded in the 8th century during the Tang dynasty,at the Eastern end of the Silk Road,the present buildings are mostly from the Ming and Qin dynasties.
It is said that Islam was introduced there by Arab merchants and travellers from Afghanistan and Persia.
The largest Chinese Mosquee,facing West(towards Mecca),still used, occupies an area of 12000 square meters and it is divided into 4(there is another one behind the prayer hall) courtyards leading to the Prayer hall;
In the first courtyard,there is a 17th century's wooden arch or pailou,9 meter high, with glaze-covered tiles.Furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties is displayed in the rooms standing by each side of the arch.
In the second courtyard stand three connected stone memorial gateways with Chinese calligraphy reading The Court of the Heaven ,on the top of the main gate.There are there,like in the third courtyard,stone tablets with Arabic inscriptions.
The prayer hall,at the western end of the fourth courtyard is reserved for the worship of Islam and cant'be seen.
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The Buddhist monk Xuanzang,a famous traveller and translater, after a 17 year pilgrimage,brought back from India more 600 Buddhist texts and figurines of the Buddha.The Pagoda was then built to house them.
Initially the pagoda had 5 stories and 60 m in height.After different reconstruction and renovation,it is now 65 m hign with 7 stories.
Visitors are allowed to climb it.
