Monday June 15 - The Terra Cotta Warriors

Ever since I first read about the Terra Cotta Warriors many years ago I have wanted to see them. They are located about an hour's drive from Xi'an and Ian took us there on the Truck first thing on Monday morning. Some background info on the "Warriors". Qin Shihuang was the King of the Qin State and the First Emperor of China. When he came to the throne in 238 BC, as was custom, Qin Shihuang began building his mausoleum. Because he wished to live for ever, he attempted to move his earthly empire to heaven. This is the reason that he built an "underground empire" that was as glorious as the empire he ruled on earth. The area covered by the Qin Mausoleum Garden, according to current exploration, is about 56.75 square kilometers. It contains the tumulus, an underground palace and auxilliary buildings, and the ruins of an outer wall containing 4 gates, and an inner city wall containing 6 gates. Some of the main discoveries include the valuts of the warriors in 1974, vaults of bronze charriots and horses, vaults of stone armour and helmets, vaults of terra cotta acrobatic figures, vaults of civil officials, vaults of rare birds and unfamiliar animals, pits of bronze water birds, and lots of other cultural relics. The tomb itself has not been opened for a number of reasons including the suspicion of large quantitites of mercury being present as well as the fact that the appropriate technology is not available to properly protect the contents once opened up. It is said that over 700,000 artisans worked on construction of the project over a period of 38 years and it was not completed when the Emperior died. There are 3 vaults of warriors that have been excavated and a 4th vault that work has not yet been started on. Vault 1 is the largest. It contains about 45 charriots and over 6000 infantry and was the main force of the terracotta army. Vault II was discovered in 1976 and is divided into 4 arrays: Array 1 contains 174 standing archers and 164 kneeling archers. Array 2, 64 charriots with 3 warriors each. Array 3 contains charriots, infantry men and cavalry. Array 4 contains 6 charriots and 124 saddled horses and cavalry men. Valut III contains a horse stable, a charriot, some warriors, horses, and weapons. To be there and see them is an overwhelming experience, When discovered they were not in good condition and have required a lot of painstaking work to put them back into their original positions. Not all of the warriors etc. are completed, and many are still lying broken on the ground. Just looking at the rows and rows of infantrymen you can really imagine meeting them on some grassy knoll in China. Its just so interesting learning all about the different levels of warrior, the formatioo, the charriotts, and of course the horses. The whole complex is a huge tourist site complete with souvenior shops, hawkers, restaurants...and KFC. None the less, this does not detract one little bit from the immensity of the project. In the evening we met our new truck group and leaders and went into the Muslim Quarter for dinner. This area of Xi'an was fabulous!! Colourful market scene with outdoor food tables and indoor restaurants. We ate skewered lamb and chicken, goats arteries, pickled cucumber, a raw peanut dish, and a green bean dish. I loved it, not so sure about Ray! Then it was to the Youth Hostel where the guys played pool and the girls chatted before turning in for the night.