Even more ancient Xian

I have to thank Nick for this part of the trip. When were planning our tour through China Nick mentioned well after most of the reservations had been made that he really wanted to see the terra cotta warriors in Xi'an. At first I told him we would have to plan it as part of a later trip as our plans had already been made but then I started realizing how easy the bullet trains make traveling. Turns out we could catch a bullet train in the morning in Luoyang and be in Xian less than 2 hours later. Tour for the day and still catch a train back to Luoyang in the evening. Since we were going to be on a tight schedule I booked a guide and driver with China Highlights. It was a great choice. We were met at the train station by an English speaking guide named Rocky and a driver with comfortable 7 passenger van. We went immediately to the Muslim quarter of old Xian.  Xian still has a moat and wall around the entire old section of the city. The original inhabitants of the muslim quarter came from the middle east along the silk road hundreds of years ago. They intermarried with the locals and most of them look Han Chinese and they all speak Mandarin but they keep some of their traditional dress and many of their traditional foods although with Chinese influences back and forth. There are several mosques with services still in Arabic. The muslim quarter is full of restaurants and shops. We wandered around for a couple of hours. I honestly thought Margaret was going to taste everything she saw.

street view. Muslim quarter

Meat on a stick

Soup and mutton dumplings

Taffy pullers

Taffy pounders

Mutton soup with bits of shredded "pita bread". Although pita here has evolved to look more like a pancake or biscuit. Smaller and thicker than what we think of as pita

Fired bananas, next to braised goat hooves, next to squid on a stick

Making some sort of brown sugar cakes

Roasting walnuts

Nice lady who sold Syd some jade pendants. Hope they are real

Silversmiths

Xi'an drum tower

Xi'an bell tower

white pomegranite

Still red on the inside

After leaving the muslim quarter. We went and had a great lunch of typical Shanxi cuisine as if we weren't already full after all the food we tried in the Muslim quarter. Then it was off to see the terra cotta warriors.  Emperor Qin Shi Huang Ti unified most of China in 221 BC. Around that time he was also building his mausoleum and a terra cotta army to be buried with him. Previous rulers had buried their armies and followers with them when they died. He decided to change practices and bury a terra cotta army instead. Over the course of 28 years 6000 warriors along with horses, musicians, acrobats, generals, clerks and others were created out of clay and buried. Every one was unique and different. Some were buried before being finished as evidenced by their missing heads. Along with them were buried chariots of wood or bronze and each warrior was equipped with real weapons. Unfortunately a few decades after they were buried they were dug up and the weapons were taken by a later army. At that time almost all of them were broken up and then reburied. They went undiscovered for 2000+ years until some farmers digging a well found them. There were actually several tombs or graves right on top of them, some 1000 years old and others only 100 years old that would have found the warriors if they had been even a foot deeper. The museum is spread over three buildings and is essentially also the archeologic site. You can see restored warriors displayed as they were originally standing right next to pits with partially exposed warriors and even work spaces where warriors are being restored. Essentially as pieces are dug up they are kept in bins. These are labelled with a number that corresponds to where they were found. The warriors are reassembled using rice glue and labelled with the same number. Once they are restored they are added back to the display in their original location. So far about 2000 have been restored. There were over 6000 of them and only one was found intact. One figure of a kneeling archer was completely untouched. He was quickly placed in a display case filled with nitrogen gas so that the paint on the statue was preserved.  All of the figures were originally painted but when exposed to air the paint fades within hours. The size of the army is amazing and the detailed work on each figure is stunning.

Every one is different

How they are found

Collected into bins

reassembled

Waiting for glue to dry and labeled so it can be returned where found

Restored warriors and horsed back in original positions. Empty spaces held wooden chariots which have since decayed

The area where parts are cleaned and reassembled

Detail on foot of intact archer

The only intact warrior, a kneeling archer

The archer

A general

a cavalry man with horse.