Finding the Lost Army

Friday 18 August

Today would be another highlight of this tour – a visit to the Terracotta Army. The actual mausoleum is about an hour’s drive (35 kms) outside the city, because the Emperor, Qin Shihuang had to be buried between the river and the mountains. The Terracotta Army is buried to the east of the burial site to protect the Emperor from invaders after he died – all enemies came from the east at that time – 221BC – 206BC.

The site now is a huge modern conglomeration of modern museum style buildings all in light grey marble, set in large gardens. From the coach you have to take large buggies to the three pits.

No 1 pit is at least the size of an aircraft hanger, with a high walkway round the outside. As you enter, and look down, all you can focus on are rows and rows of the terracottawarriors. Each row is about four men across and thirty men long separated by 2 metre thick clay walls, in a grid pattern. The trenches are about 5 metres deep. Some of the rows included horses and most of the men seem to be made to hold a weapon, but none were found here when excavated – it is thought the invaders later opened these “tombs” and stole the weapons to continue their fight. The warriors had been covered with wooden roofs, balanced on the walls, but these had collapsed with age or fire, damaging most of the warriors. Only a few were completely in tact – the first ones to be found are now displayed in special showcases – and the warriors we saw today have been pieced together like a jigsaw. No two warriors look alike – facial features, height and stance are different from warrior to warrior. There are generals, infantry soliders, calvary with their horses and archers. No women soldiers were found in any of the pits.

The warriors were discovered accidentally in the 1974 by a local farmer digging for a well – you can still see the outline of the well in the trench, right at the corner of the site – if he had dug about 2 metres further east, he would have completely missed the tomb! The farmer is now famous and attends the souvenir shop each day, signing books about his find. The Government have taken over the land and given him new lands on which to farm – but he has no time for that now.

There are two further pits, No 2 and No 3, both smaller than the first, but still containing large numbers of warriors. Much of these are still covered with clay to preserve the warriors, as there is still lots of work to be done on the large number already uncovered, but archeologists have gone down into the tombs to estimate the total number of warriors – probably in the region of 8,000, plus lots of horses. The Army now looks terracotta coloured, but originally they were all painted, mainly in blue and red uniforms.

There is a No 4 pit, but this one is empty as there was a rebellion at the end of the dynasty and the pit was never completed. But they have excavated the workings there, and it is bigger than two football pitches.

We knew what the warriors looked like – Juz and Dave purchased two when here two years ago – but did not appreciate the size of the site and the number of warriors. Several of our group purchased warrior to be shipped home, so warriors will soon be a common feature of English gardens.

To the west of the mausoleum they have unearthed two large painted bronze chariots, complete with horses. One contained about seven kilos of gold. These are also on display in a separate pavilion.

After lunch in the restaurant at the museum, we visited the ceramic factory where they make the warriors for sale, as well as Chinese lacquer furniture, inlaid with jade and mother of pearl in intricate designs representing Chinese life, and all sorts of silk items from scarves to carpets – all for sale, of course.

We had been walking around for more than four hours today, so Lei had arranged for us to go for reflexology! At the “parlour” (their brochure says they offer all types of service!!?!) we were taken upstairs to a room with ten large armchairs and footstools. Ten Chinese masseurs came in together each carrying a wooden bowl of hot water with herbs. I had the only male masseur!! When we had put our feet in to soak (this alone was worth the visit), our massage started with arms and hands, and after about 15 minutes moved to legs and feet, firstly with the water, then with oils and finally with wooden hammers. There were times when it was extremely painful (my muscles still haven’t recovered from climbing the wall, and then there was last night’s dancing too) – and quite often I squirmed as he dug his fingers in my feet and legs. But all the agony was worth it – feet felt great when he had finished. Colin enjoyed it too – a nice little Chinese girl pummeling his feet and legs. The whole treatment took 70 minutes – all for 140 yuan each (10 pounds GBP).

Tonight we were off to the theatre again, this time to see a “review” style show, representing the music, instruments and dances of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD). It was a bit like the old “Talk of Town” in London many years ago, where you had dinner first followed by a show – I think it used to be Danny La Rue! The meal was excellent and beautifully presented (quite often at home, the quality of the food at such places is sacrificed for the show – but not in this case) although not traditional Chinese. The show was a series of ‘sections’ depicting different arts – some strange musical instruments played beautifully by young Chinese women,and some very high pitched singing and chanting all accompanied by expressive dancing. The costumes were very rich and colourful, many with long trailing sleeves that floated into beautiful symmetrical patterns as the dancers waved their arms. There were some men taking part too, though their dances tended to be more energetic than the gentle, serene movements of the women. It was another delightful way to spend an evening – although the table of Chinese men behind us talked all the way through the performance. The “star” of the show was supposed to be an “older” Chinese man who played a wider form of a harmonica type instrument. At the end he took the final bow and all the Chinese audience clapped like mad. He reminded me of the lady in “Sound of Music” who keeps coming on to bow at the concert when the family escape!)

We were all too tired to go back to the Square for folk dancing tonight, although Lei did teach us the proper steps before we went out – I don’t think he thought too much of my conga last night!!!

We have to be packed again early in the morning. We have a few more sights to see in Xian, before flying to Chingquin in the afternoon to join the boat for the cruise on the Yangtze.. Xian is a vibrant city, where western cultures have invaded and joined with the Chinese traditions. The people seem to be happy and enjoy themselves most of the time – we have witnessed two street fights today, apparently both due to a taxi driver knocking a cyclist off his bike. It wouldn’t be a difficult thing to do here as nobody gives way on the road or in the cycle lane – its like two bulls challenging each other eye to eye, to see who will give way first – usually it’s the car – but when it’s not, accidents happen and tempers flare quickly.

Although by lunchtime tomorrow we will probably have seen most of what’s on show here, Xian is an interesting city with lots of shopping and good restaurants as well as interesting historical sites – plus of course the Terracotta Army, which is just amazing, If it was a bit closer to home it would make a good city break.

Although there is internet connection in the rooms, everyone is having difficulty connecting. For some reason our GPRS card doesn’t seem to recognize the provider, so will hopefully be able to post blogs when we move on tomorrow.