For the rest of my life, when I think of Xi'an, the first thing that will come to mind is pollution. While driving from the airport to our hotel, we saw three coal power plants with smoke stacks pouring clouds of exhaust into the air. Even in Beijing, the smog was not so bad, but in Xi'an, it was difficult to tell if it was a sunny or cloudy day.
Our tour allotted only one day in Xi'an, so we made the most of it, beginning at the Wild Goose Pagoda. The pagoda, seven stories high and leaning slightly to the west, is now empty, but the temple and surrounding grounds are home to about 200 Buddhist monks.
Wild Goose Pagoda.
We watched visitors lighting candles and incense, and offering prayers to the numerous Buddha statues within the walls of the temple. A large board full of wishes could be seen in one corner. The monks burn the wishes so that your wish will come true.
Wish board.
Later in the afternoon, we made our way to a terracotta factory where we could see where the terracotta warrior replicas are made. This type of stop on the tour is basically a giant tourist trap, but we were willing victims.
Cheesy tourist photo op.
It was actually pretty interesting to see that the replica warriors are made with molds, but the real warriors were made by hand.
A shelf full of molded terracotta warriors.
As you probably guessed, our next stop was the Terracotta Warrior museum. The warriors had been lost to historians until 1974, when the first pit was accidentally discovered by farmers. Since then, two more pits have been discovered, and massive structures have been erected over the dig sites to preserve and protect them. While the other farmers have since passed away, one of the farmers was in the museum-- ready to sign his autograph if you bought a book.
I wasn't prepared for what was waiting for us in pit No. 1. Over 6000 life sized warriors aligned in battle formation.
Terracotta Warriors in Pit No. 1
Zooming in, you could see that warriors have different facial features and facial hair. Even their clothing and armour is different! The detail is fascinating and impressive.
A close-up of several warriors.
We wound our way through the museum and got up close to the various types of warriors preserved in glass cases. There are kneeling archers, standing archers, horsemen, horses, middle ranking officials and generals. Some of the warriors had faint colours preserved on their clothing, and the horses reigns were made of filaments of metal. At one time, there were also wooden chariots, but those were burned many years before. All the remained were the metal pieces from the chariots.
We wrapped up our day by snapping a few quick pictures of the giant warrior sculpture in the courtyard of our hotel. It must have been at least three stories high!
Imposing hotel warriors.
We were happy to leave the smog behind.
Next stop, Guilin!
No comments:
Post a Comment