Inside the modern Xi'an are the old city walls. My trip roommate, Lisa, and I spent the morning walking the walls. There are city ordinances which limit the height of buildings within the wall, but not outside the wall which creates an interesting contrast.
During the 1990's many Chinese women found themselves out of work. The government created a movement of outdoor and communal exercise classes for these women, and the idea stuck. Women take dance classes, play badminton/ping pong, and practice Tai Chi.
In the afternoon we headed out to the main attraction of Xi'an, "The Museum of Qin Terra-corra Warriors and Horses." Today, there are around 7,000 life-size terra cotta warriors and horses on display, but there are many thousands more which have yet to be dug out. The process started in 1974 after a farmer stumbled upon the site by accident.
You cannot help but be struck by the size of the pits already excavated. It's incredible.
Unfortunately, many of the warriors have been destroyed. Apparently, at some point during the 3rd century BC, Xiang Yu, the leader of a rebellion against China's First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, succeeded in getting access to the outer chambers of the imperial tomb. He had the warriors smashed, and set fire to many of the rooms. Thus, the archeologists are in the process of having to piece together the remains of many of the warriors.
One of the reasons why so many of the rooms have not been excavated is that the archeologists are still trying to refine their methods of excavating the soldiers. When they were originally constructed, the soldiers were brightly painted. However, most of the soldiers unearthed now have lost their paint. The scientists are trying to find the best ways to preserve these artifacts.
That night we went over to the Muslim Quarter for a bit of wandering and bargaining :D
No comments:
Post a Comment