Xi'an

Terracotta Warriors

 

The former capital of China, Xi’an is the starting point of the Silk Road.  This charming city was inhabited as far back as 500,000 years ago and it is also known for the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors.  But the food was what made me fall in love with the city.  Some of the must-try items include paomo-flat bread in lamb soup and all sorts of dumplings with flavours like tomatoes, taro, celery and more!  The mix of old buildings and new high-rises with alleyways in between makes this a fun city of explore.  By night time, the alleyways are popular dining spots with food carts selling dumplings, lamb skewers and of course noodles.  Many families make their own noodles at home too, right from scratch, so nothing artificial is added.

Everyone who comes to Xi’an always visits the Terracotta Warriors and has become the tourist icon of China aside from the Great Wall.  The warrior sculptures were buried with Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China way back in 210 BC, as a sign of power and protection for the emperor in his after-life.  The site wasn’t discovered until the 1960s and today, only three pits have been excavated, out of the hundreds.  Even in the three small pits, 8000 soldiers and over a hundred chariots have been found.  It’s amazing how artists were able to create figures that seem to come to life, especially with the detailed facial expressions on the figures.  Each figure’s is assembled separately as the neck area is more vulnerable to breakage.  The first pit has the most items.  Most of the coloured pigments on the figures have worn off due to lack of excavation knowledge.  Now the parts that haven’t been fully excavated are being protected by plastic covers to prevent corrosion and oxidation.  The first pit has more than 6000 figurines standing in rows.  Most of the figurines resemble people holding something like weapons but these were all stolen during wartime by Xiang Yu, a warlord.  The third pit is smaller in scale but has the higher ranking warriors and chariots.  The second pit is still in excavation and when I was there, the ground was being watered slightly to make digging easier for archaeologists.  This pit contains the more detailed works and this is where some of the different positions of warriors can be seen, from the young archers who stand in their kneeling positions, ready for action with their bows and arrows to charioteers in shoes that have finer teeth to prevent slipping.  Details go as far as including beard and wrinkles to depict the age of the warriors and if you look closely, no too figure is the same!