After our tasty lunch we walked around a bit in downtown Xi'An on the pedestrian street. I have captured a picture here of two people of the Miao ethnic group, they are primarily from Southern China. I can identify them from their headdress. The woman's in particular is quite typical but usually only worn during festivals. I suppose she uses it to entice customers to her table to look at her wares.
Xi'An I am told has a few industries, tourism and agriculture. The 4 main agricultural products are, Pomegranates, Persimmons, Dates, and Walnuts. There is also coal and mineral mining but that is further outside of the city. The town looks quite prosperous so I do wonder if there is another industry here.
If I had not been full from lunch I would have tried these little delights. These ladies were wrapping a small piece of dough around either a vegetable, beef or seafood filling. They look like mini enchiladas.
They are laid in the cooking device, a very large steamer, and 8 minutes later you have a tasty snack. Well I think they are tasty, I didn't try one, but they sure looked good.
The famous Xi'An bread soup was being made here. First he tosses in some seasoning, that would be MSG, a very nice and sparkling flavor, it really gives all food a nice punch. I am not kidding you.
Next he tosses in the tiny pieces of very dense chopped bread..
Ladles in some soup from the bowl to his right (it's hard to see, it's metal rimmed with steam coming out of it) and then he tosses it around on a very high flame and done!
It was getting late and we still had not seen the warriors so we jumped into a cab and 1 hour later we were at the archaeological site. Here is the first sign you encounter after getting your tickets. At the top of the arrow you can just make out the English translation, which says, Warm Prompt, translated again to proper English, Attention. The bottom reads: please follow the arrows to the site.
A very pretty horse fountain along the way.
Here is a picture of another chain restaurant just to make sure you are aware that this is all modern! Um, except for the WC which is a porcelain hole in the ground. Think Europe in the 60's.
These two are probably locals from Xi'An and no they are not here for the tourists, they are getting their wedding picture taken. They decided to get dressed up in costume which is one of the many popular options here in China when you are documenting your wedding. Today is picture day and in the next month or so they will marry.
Finally, the warrior site! You have walk about 1 mile from the ticket booth to the actual site.
I took lots of pictures at the request of my Aunt Cathy. So here we go......
(from the Internet) The Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses are the most significant archaeological excavations of the 20th century. Upon ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had begun to work for his mausoleum. It took 11 years to finish. It is speculated that many buried treasures and sacrificial objects had accompanied the emperor in his after life. A group of peasants uncovered some pottery while digging for a well nearby the royal tomb in 1974. It caught the attention of archaeologists immediately. They came to Xian in droves to study and to extend the digs. They had established beyond doubt that these artifacts were associated with the Qin Dynasty (211-206 BC). So it seems the great pyramids of Egypt are far older as they date back as far as 3,000 BC.
AND THEN I LEARNED....... this is not a site of an emperor but an old military site where they trained the army. And the warriors are tools in the training. Setting up formations, practicing -? Now this makes a lot more sense to me. I don't know which it the truth but it's all interesting to me.
I particularly like looking at the un-excavated parts, or what looks like rubble, and think about how they have to dig it out and put it all together.
Is this similar to what the farmer encountered when he was trying to dig his well in 1974, a pile of clay rubble?
The outside of the buildings as well as the toll booth on the highway (of which I did not get a picture of) are all decorated with some form of chariots or warriors, it's very clever and pretty.
Entrance to pit number 2, the previous pictures are pit number 1 and the most famous of them.
Here you can see more of the un-excavated site. I found this very interesting.
Someone is going to have to sort through all those pieces and put "humpty dumpty" back together again. Since they are all made of clay they are a bit fragile so it is not a surprise that after 2,200 years most are broken.
We headed back to the airport at 3:30p, about an hour drive, to catch our 5:30p plane back to Shanghai. All in all a great day! Many people spend the weekend in Xi'An but I was not up for staying in a Chinese hotel and eating more Chinese food. I just wanted to have a look and then go back and eat and sleep in my own apartment.
