China, the Xi'an Post
Apr. 14th, 2013 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedOur next city after Beijing was Xi'an. It's one of the oldest cities in China (which is saying a lot) and has some fabulous historical sites, the most famous of which is the Terracotta Warriors museum.
One of the coolest things in the city is the Ming dynasty city wall, which dates from the 14th century. It's a seriously impressive piece of architecture, and runs six miles around the inner city. This is us on the wall.
Don and Ros took a rented bike around the top of the wall, which was probably one of Ros' favourite things on the trip.
I did a walk around the wall. This pic gives a sense of the scope of the thing. It's immense!
Here's a closeup of the light standards on one side of the wall. Each side had a different animals on the standards.
After touring the wall, we visited the Muslim quarter of the city, including an old preserved house with a shadow puppet theatre. This is the show we saw, with a fragment of the story of Journey West. The Monkey King is the one standing on the tree at the right. He's defending his party against Death, disguised as an old woman at the right. The American boys in the tour group we saw it with thought the sword fights between the Monkey King and Death were hilarious. Some things are universal.
This is a moon gate in the grounds of the house with the theatre.
Don and Ros arm wrestling. (Ros always wins. *g*)
This was the view from our hotel room. I kind of like the post-apocalyptic look the pollution gave the sun.
Our second day in Xi'an we visited the Terracotta Warriors museum, which was preceded by a visit to a factory where you could buy replicas of the warriors. Just like in Disney, all sites in China have a gift shop somewhere. We bought small versions of a horse and the emperor. You could also take your picture with a warrior's body.
Which of course we all had to do.
Here we are with the farmer who first found the terracotta warriors. His job is now to greet visitors to the museum and sign the book you can buy about the discovery.
Here's the main building, covering where the warriors were first discovered. It's enormous, about the size of four football fields, and it's only a small part of the Qin emperor's tomb. They're still finding different burial sites with different kinds of figures buried all over the area.
Ros and Don in the main building.
A close up of some restored warriors, standing in the main building. Every warrior has a different face.
And this is the shape they're found in. The Qin emperor was the first leader to unify China, but he was lousy at actually leading the country he'd created, and the soldiers of a farmers' rebellion destroyed much of the terracotta army he'd prepared for his tomb.
One of three warriors in glass cases you could get close to.
A bronze chariot that was found in the tomb and restored.
After visiting the Terracotta Warriors museum, we stayed in a farming village outside Xi'an. This was the end of the street our guest house was on.
This was the entrance of our guest house. It was interesting staying in a regular village. The house was pretty basic, and it was actually warmer outside than inside. I wore flannel pyjamas and every fleece I brought to bed the night we stayed here.
And this was our hostess, a lovely lady who was always trying to feed us more, and get us to dress Ros more warmly.
Ros was extremely happy to find a playground in the village.
This is Ros and the grandson of our hostess' best friend. He hung around the guest house and he became Ros' little buddy. Shortly after this picture was taken, the two of them were tearing around the streets on his riding toys. Ros got the one in this pic, he got an electric car. He was being looked after by his grandmother while his parents were living elsewhere for work, which happens all over China. Most villages we went to were full of old people and little kids.
This is the old village, which the new village we were in had replaced. It was fascinating to walk through it, and there were a few people who'd decided to stay in their old homes.
One of the coolest things in the city is the Ming dynasty city wall, which dates from the 14th century. It's a seriously impressive piece of architecture, and runs six miles around the inner city. This is us on the wall.
Don and Ros took a rented bike around the top of the wall, which was probably one of Ros' favourite things on the trip.
I did a walk around the wall. This pic gives a sense of the scope of the thing. It's immense!
Here's a closeup of the light standards on one side of the wall. Each side had a different animals on the standards.
After touring the wall, we visited the Muslim quarter of the city, including an old preserved house with a shadow puppet theatre. This is the show we saw, with a fragment of the story of Journey West. The Monkey King is the one standing on the tree at the right. He's defending his party against Death, disguised as an old woman at the right. The American boys in the tour group we saw it with thought the sword fights between the Monkey King and Death were hilarious. Some things are universal.
This is a moon gate in the grounds of the house with the theatre.
Don and Ros arm wrestling. (Ros always wins. *g*)
This was the view from our hotel room. I kind of like the post-apocalyptic look the pollution gave the sun.
Our second day in Xi'an we visited the Terracotta Warriors museum, which was preceded by a visit to a factory where you could buy replicas of the warriors. Just like in Disney, all sites in China have a gift shop somewhere. We bought small versions of a horse and the emperor. You could also take your picture with a warrior's body.
Which of course we all had to do.
Here we are with the farmer who first found the terracotta warriors. His job is now to greet visitors to the museum and sign the book you can buy about the discovery.
Here's the main building, covering where the warriors were first discovered. It's enormous, about the size of four football fields, and it's only a small part of the Qin emperor's tomb. They're still finding different burial sites with different kinds of figures buried all over the area.
Ros and Don in the main building.
A close up of some restored warriors, standing in the main building. Every warrior has a different face.
And this is the shape they're found in. The Qin emperor was the first leader to unify China, but he was lousy at actually leading the country he'd created, and the soldiers of a farmers' rebellion destroyed much of the terracotta army he'd prepared for his tomb.
One of three warriors in glass cases you could get close to.
A bronze chariot that was found in the tomb and restored.
After visiting the Terracotta Warriors museum, we stayed in a farming village outside Xi'an. This was the end of the street our guest house was on.
This was the entrance of our guest house. It was interesting staying in a regular village. The house was pretty basic, and it was actually warmer outside than inside. I wore flannel pyjamas and every fleece I brought to bed the night we stayed here.
And this was our hostess, a lovely lady who was always trying to feed us more, and get us to dress Ros more warmly.
Ros was extremely happy to find a playground in the village.
This is Ros and the grandson of our hostess' best friend. He hung around the guest house and he became Ros' little buddy. Shortly after this picture was taken, the two of them were tearing around the streets on his riding toys. Ros got the one in this pic, he got an electric car. He was being looked after by his grandmother while his parents were living elsewhere for work, which happens all over China. Most villages we went to were full of old people and little kids.
This is the old village, which the new village we were in had replaced. It was fascinating to walk through it, and there were a few people who'd decided to stay in their old homes.
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no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 04:38 am (UTC)I've always found those terracotta warriors fascinating, loving all the history around it :) Thanks for sharing all the impressions from your trip, I'm loving these posts!
no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:22 pm (UTC)The terracotta warriors were extremely fascinating. We'd had a small exhibit of six of them at our local museum, but seeing thousands of them at once was very cool.
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Date: 2013-04-15 05:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 05:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 05:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 10:17 am (UTC)And the village! That must really have been a unique experience. But I think you do get a more personal experience when you stay in a place that's not just one of the chains.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:26 pm (UTC)I went prepared for the pollution to bother me--brought an extra asthma puffer, just in case--but it wasn't an issue.
The nice part of the tour company organizing things was getting to do things like stay in the guest house or have lunch in a family home, things that we wouldn't have been able to sort out on our own.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 10:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 11:32 am (UTC)I'm so enjoying your pictures - thank you! I feel I'm getting a much better idea of the real day to day China than watching news reports and documentaries. It looks like an amazing and fascinating country - though the pollution looks scary.
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Date: 2013-04-15 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 12:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 02:06 pm (UTC)Anyway, thank you for all of the photos and comments!
no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:32 pm (UTC)I'd read about how prevalent grandparents raising children was in China, but it's something different to see it in action. (One of our guides had an 11-month-old daughter who was living with her mom and whom she only saw once a month. I can't even imagine what that would be like.)
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Date: 2013-04-15 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-16 10:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-16 01:05 pm (UTC)Small boys are the same everywhere. They think people/beings whaling on each other with sticks or swords is awesome. *g*