Friday, March 22, 2019 Xi’an,
China
Breakfast Buffet in our hotel....
After a quick breakfast, our
group met the bus for a half an hour drive to a Chinese Art presentation and a
lesson on Chinese Calligraphy.
The varieties of Chinese art were interesting.
Attempting to draw the Chinese characters was quite a task. It made us aware of the practice that takes place for all the Chinese Children. We have 26 letters to learn to write. The Chinese use eight strokes in forming their characters. This seems small, however; they have over 1,000 characters to understand…each using some or all of the eight strokes. That is an incredible amount of memorization.
The massiveness of the whole thing was incredible!
This giant terracotta was displayed outside of the shops.
Cold French Fries for breakfast?
Attempting to draw the Chinese characters was quite a task. It made us aware of the practice that takes place for all the Chinese Children. We have 26 letters to learn to write. The Chinese use eight strokes in forming their characters. This seems small, however; they have over 1,000 characters to understand…each using some or all of the eight strokes. That is an incredible amount of memorization.
We all got back into the bus
to ride to another half an hour out of the city to see the Terracotta Soldiers.
Larry, Kathy and I visited this area in 2001.
My memory of the area was of a two lane road, ox or donkeys pulling carts about the town. No English. Food was found only with a picture presentation menu. We did this portion of our trip with another family from California….on our own…no guide. It was interesting. We realized that we had been spoiled with Dr. Jim guiding us in Beijing. Back then, being on our own was quite a different experience.
What a formal entrance!
Anyway…the area today has changed...six lane roads, many more businesses, and a long walk into the three permanent buildings where the Terracotta Soldiers were on display. In 2001, the one building that we visited was a tent. Protection was provided by large tarp like coverings.
My memory of the area was of a two lane road, ox or donkeys pulling carts about the town. No English. Food was found only with a picture presentation menu. We did this portion of our trip with another family from California….on our own…no guide. It was interesting. We realized that we had been spoiled with Dr. Jim guiding us in Beijing. Back then, being on our own was quite a different experience.
Anyway…the area today has changed...six lane roads, many more businesses, and a long walk into the three permanent buildings where the Terracotta Soldiers were on display. In 2001, the one building that we visited was a tent. Protection was provided by large tarp like coverings.
The area that we walked through was full of cherry and apricot trees in full bloom!
The first building we went
into showed the archery units and chariot soldiers with their horses. The ceilings of the original structures had
collapsed causing an incredible amount of breakage of the terracotta soldiers.
Most of the area had not been excavated because of this.
We continued on to the next building where the officers of the Terracotta Soldiers were buried. Many headless soldiers in fine uniforms were displayed in the carefully excavated areas.
Four horses were displayed.
Howard told us that farmers in the area had snuck in and stole many of the warrior heads before the area had become secured….the bodies were too heavy to carry away. Many farmers lost their life for stealing the heads.
We continued on to the next building where the officers of the Terracotta Soldiers were buried. Many headless soldiers in fine uniforms were displayed in the carefully excavated areas.
Howard told us that farmers in the area had snuck in and stole many of the warrior heads before the area had become secured….the bodies were too heavy to carry away. Many farmers lost their life for stealing the heads.
The third building was the one
that we visited in 2001. These were with walking troops. The building was
massive and had lots of soldiers on display down in the dugout pits. It was astounding
today again to see this site.
The very first Dynasty in
China had these soldiers handmade some 2200 years ago. Before this time there
were several individual kingdoms in China. In this particular kingdom, the king
died leaving it to his 13 year old male heir. The heir and his mother had been
captured by the enemy when he was a very young boy. He was treated cruelly until his
return to the kingdom at the age of 13. His mother basically ruled until he was
20, when he took over.
Each face is different. Different eyes, noses, expressions...incredible!
He immediately set out conquering all the
other kingdoms in China making himself the first Emperor. He started connecting all the walls of other Chinese kingdoms, thus, forming the Great Wall of China to keep the north/west enemies out of his country,
ruling his country from the city of Xi’an.
He was said to put the shoe makers out of business, because if you did not follow his law, your leg was cut off. However, the merchant who made and sold wooden legs at that time became a very rich man. The wall also added a way to tax merchants who were traveling down the silk road to trade their goods.
He was said to put the shoe makers out of business, because if you did not follow his law, your leg was cut off. However, the merchant who made and sold wooden legs at that time became a very rich man. The wall also added a way to tax merchants who were traveling down the silk road to trade their goods.
Howard filled us full of
stories about this Emperor that were actually mouth dropping, unbelievable. Because of his harsh
life as a child, he ruled with an iron fist…living until the age of 49. At that
time that was unusual. Only one in five Chinamen lived to see the age of 19.
This dynasty lasted only two generations before a new dynasty conquered it to
rule China. What a fascinating piece of history!
We had a lovely lunch in a
private home of a gardener/cook….all kinds of dishes were set before us with
lots of vegetables.
The owner was very
proud of his work and came out to meet us.We all
returned back to the city with full tummies and big smiles!
That day ended when Larry and I went out to find some music in Xi'an. Larry found a great friend who practiced his English with us for about an hour! As the evening came to an end, we had made a true friend in Xi'an.
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