CHINA: ARRIVING IN XI'AN AND VISITING THE TERRACOTTA WARRIORS

Traveler beware.

Upon arriving in the Xi'an Airport, we were almost instantly accosted by a smiling young man speaking passable English asking if we needed transportation. He could offer the four of us a taxi to our hotel for just 400 Yuan. At first we were a bit confused, and as a result he latched on to us like a tick. Remembering advice from our tour company, we told him no, that we would talk to the travel desk about transportation. However, he continued to hound us, even when we ceased to respond to him or make eye contact.  He was still there after we used the restroom, and he would not take no for an answer. Ultimately, he finally left us alone after we talked to the travel desk and booked a minivan taxi for 200 Yuan (about $30 for the 45 minute drive to our hotel).

Later, we heard from friends who arrived a day earlier that they had accepted the offer of one the persistent solicitors. They had paid the premium price and then thought they were going to die as their driver reached speeds of what they guessed was 100 mph or more and as he swung in and out of traffic with total abandon.

Lesson learned: Don't use the guys bugging you inside the airport. In fact, don't even speak to them.

We made it safely to the hotel (more about the hotel later), crashed immediately, and got up before the sun rose the next morning to shower and eat breakfast at the buffet before getting on a tour bus at 7:30 AM to travel 30 minutes to the most famous site in China other than the Great Wall: the Terracotta Warriors. It was cruelly early, especially given our previous day of travel, but the tour company's strategy was to be there at the moment the ticket office opened in an effort to beat anticipated crowds.

We were greeted at the site by Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 BC-210 BC), the self-proclaimed "First Emperor of China" who profoundly influenced Chinese history by unifying seven warring states into one nation for the first time. Qin is credited with building an immense defensive wall that was the precursor to the Great Wall, and it was by his order that the Terracotta Warriors were created. Also, "Qin" is pronounced "Chin," and is the foundation of the name "China." Those are three pretty significant legacies, right? Not bad for a guy with a really bad hairstyle:

Is this the same guy? He has the same wacky hairdo:

We passed this fur seller on our walk between the bus and the warriors. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't go over too well in the United States:

Qin Shi Huang was obsessed with immortality and greatly feared his own death, so while he searched for The Elixir of Life, he also had his own mausoleum constructed, and he ordered thousands of life-sized clay warriors and horses to be built to accompany him to and protect him in the afterlife.

In a story that reminds me a lot of the accidental discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946, some local farmers were digging a water well in Shaanxi Province in northwest China in 1974 and ran into a life-sized clay figure that looked poised for battle. Government archaeologists were called to the site, and they found not just one, but thousands of clay figures and bronze weapons standing in neat rows in underground corridors.

Since then, hundreds of "pits" full of figures have been discovered, and three have been opened to the public, each covered by a large, protective building:

Pit 1, the Main Exhibition Hall

Pit 2 (I think)

Pit 3

We started in Pit 1, the largest pit excavated so far. It is about 750 feet long and 200 feet wide. So far about 2,000 warriors and horses and 20 wooden chariots have been unearthed in a third of what is known to be the pit, so it is assumed that at least 6,000 warriors and horses and 50 chariots were buried in Pit 1.

It is an electrifying sight, and I took over 100 pictures in this pit alone.

The warriors stand in orderly rows in eleven corridors separated by ten partition walls. The corridors were paved with pottery bricks on which the figures were placed:

This shot shows how massive the partitions are:


It is thought that molds were used for the bodies, which are hollow, but that the faces were individualized by sculptors so that no two are alike. They also appear to have been painted--not elaborately, but a little bit:

Differences in clothing and hairstyles indicate military rank:

Note how some of the figures' right arms are raised and appear to be clutching something. At one time all of the warriors were holding a bronze weapon, including crossbows, arrows, spears, dagger-axes, halberds, swords, and curved knives.

Hundreds of horses accompany the soldiers. The horses are quite stylized--very smooth skin, odd body shape, and those ears and forelocks!

More horses from Pit 3:

Yes, although we were slightly comatose after minimal sleep, we were actually there! Bucket List ✔ 

It was comforting to see that some of the warriors were in worse condition than we were:

The rear of Pit 1 houses Terracotta Warrior Hospital, where dozens of people are working to unearth and restore new figures, and to clean up the walls between trenches:

A reconstructive surgeon at work:

Hundreds of soldiers have made it through rehab and are ready to go, quite literally, back in the trenches:

Others still need additional plastic surgery:

These fellows from Pit 3 need a good neurologist:

Pit 3 was the second Pit we visited (it's right next to Pit 1). It isn't even close to being as extensive or interesting as Pit 1, but some day I'm sure it will be.

The amount of work to do at the complex is overwhelming, and that's just at the three sites open to tourists.  When my grandchildren visit this Terracotta Army thirty or forty years from now, I'm sure they will see something quite different from what we saw.

Pit 2, the last pit we visited, was the least exciting for us. (Although this site says it is the MOST exciting of all the pits.) Although over 1,300 terracotta warriors and horses have been discovered in this pit, there is still a lot of excavation to do:

There are some pretty spectacular figures that were found in Pit 2 and that are now on display in glass cases. This kneeling archer once held a crossbow:

The stations of the middle-ranking officer on the left and high-ranking officer on the right are identified by their clothing and headgear:

Here is one of the 116 calvary men with their saddled war horses found in Pit 2. This horse looks a lot more realistic than some of the horses in Pits 1 and 3:

This group looks like it got hit by a tsunami:

There were some not-so-ancient artifacts in a little museum area of this building, including a jade version of the warriors and Marble Mao:

The last building we visited was Exhibition Hall:

It houses two horse-drawn bronze chariots discovered nearby. They are half life-sized:

Supposedly even after more than 2,000 years, the wheels still rotate:

. . . and the halters and reins are still flexible:

Finally (just be glad I winnowed my photos down), the complex also has a not-to-be-missed gift shop where you can buy a miniature terracotta warrior for your bookshelf at home:

These miniatures are made using the same 2,000-year-old techniques as the life-sized ones, including the same kind of clay:

. . . and the use of molds to make the basic body and head shapes:

Artisans then do the finish work by hand:

There was a terracotta Xi Jinping on display. I'm not sure if we was for sale or not:

Of course, for a price you can buy a life-sized terracotta warrior that really truly is hardly distinguishable from the real thing. For a little more money, you can have your own face put on the warrior. The price includes shipping.

One last option is to have your face photoshopped onto the body of a terracotta warrior. They had this awesome example featuring Bill Clinton, who visited Xi'an in 1998 with Hillary and Chelsea.

It looks like they got to go down into the trenches:

Photo from here

One thing that I thought was missing from our visit to the site was a good storytelling film like the ones we have for national parks in the United States. It would help give background and context to the experience. We had a English-speaking Chinese guide doing that for us over our headphones, but he threw so much material at us so quickly that it was hard to digest.

Seeing the terracotta warriors was a thrill, but I am sure that the exhibit is only going to get bigger and better in future years. With only three pits open out of the dozens that are known to exist, and with the Emperor's tomb itself still to explore, this site, dubbed by some as "The Eighth Wonder of the World," will one day be MUCH more dazzling than it is now. Believe me--that's saying something.