I know, I know. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: I’ve always wanted to see the Terracotta Army. In case you didn’t know, the Terracotta Army is simply the coolest thing this side of the Prime Meridian. I read about it in a National Geographic magazine in a doctor’s office in elementary school, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Something about this place just immediately grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go. Since coming to China, I’ve been dying to see it, and today I finally had the chance.
This morning’s class was about the History of Xi’an. I’ll give y’all just the bare minimum and provide links for optional extra reading. So, Chinese culture has supposedly been around for some 4000 years, but the Chinese empire as we know it didn’t exist until 221 BC, after the Warring States Period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_Period). The first emperor was Qin Shi Huang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang), who is an extremely interesting and somewhat nasty figure so I highly recommend reading his short biography provided in the link. Strangely, some of his policies are simply severe versions of policies today—such as book-burning instead of book-banning, etc. If you didn’t read about him, just know that he’s the guy who had the Terracotta Army built. At that time, it was the Qin Dynasty and the capital of the Chinese Empire was Xi’an, which was already around 1000 years old at the time (it currently has a recorded history of 3000 years).
Before the first emperor died, he had a magnificent tomb built, which is actually the most elaborate tomb ever built in recorded history. In the very center is the tomb of the first emperor himself, although archeologists are unable to get to it because it’s surrounded completely by liquid mercury! It’s too dangerous for scientists to get close and also way too dangerous to try opening the tomb. Outside of the tomb, according to what archeologists have found so far, there are some 8000 terracotta warriors, as well as all kinds of war paraphernalia. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army.
We got to the Terracotta Army site around 3:00pm, but it was packed. You would think that people would be at work on a Friday afternoon, but apparently it is not so. Furthermore, it was raining…hard. Unlike Hong Kong, the summer weather in Xi’an is very hard to anticipate. Yesterday, the highest temperature was some 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and today it dropped to 60 degrees. The rain made it feel so much colder, and of course everyone was wearing shorts, T-shirts, and no jackets. Thankfully, I wore long pants, but that was my only protection against the cold. Against the rain, I had my newest 7-Eleven umbrella, purchased in Guangzhou. There were so many people, too, that the umbrellas all crammed together, dumping water on people in line. My efforts became futile when some jerk in a plastic poncho almost shoved me out of line. He failed, but he got water all over my previously-dry self. Freezing and wet with high winds, we waited in line for about 1 hour before we finally entered the museum grounds.
This was finally it. I felt so excited I couldn’t even focus on how miserable I was!
We first saw some of the bronze treasures discovered in the tomb area:
But, to be honest, that was just an appetizer. The main course was yet to come, and by then I was noticeably giddy. The Chinese teachers kept telling me, “Wow, Mai Ruirui, you’re really excited today! You look like a kid in an amusement park.” Of course, then they said something about what cute students they have but, for some reason, every Chinese teacher I’ve ever had seems to think the foreign students are the cutest things they’ve ever seen. So, yes, I was way more excited than I probably should have been, but I just couldn’t help it! For me, this really was my childhood dream come true (though at that time, I also wanted to be an archeologist).
Finally, we saw the largest section of unearthed terracotta warriors:
The statues are all completely unique, especially the faces, and they’re just slightly larger than real-life people. Aside from the soldiers, there are statues of horses, cattle, and even chariots. Originally, all the statues were painted with bright colors, but the paint quickly eroded and left behind only the terracotta underneath.
Unfortunately, some statues are broken:
And the archeologists still have a lot of work to do:
I still can’t believe I finally made it here, all the way to Xi’an, to the Terracotta Army. On days like this, I wish I could go back in time and tell my elementary-school self all about it, but then again, if I could and did do that, perhaps it would take away from the anticipation and excitement. After coming here, I really feel like I’m on top of the world. I can go everywhere and see everything I’ve dreamed about. God certainly works in ways we can never guess. Just 2 years ago, who could have imagined that I would finally be here? Not me, and not anyone else I know of. It’s that same sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that makes me excited for whatever comes next!
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