The Terracotta Warriors

I didn't specifically choose xi'an for the tourist attractions, but it just so happened that the historic sight i most wanted to check out ended up being nearby - the terracotta warriors. I'd been looking forward to this trip for awhile, puting it down as one of the must do things before i leave xi'an. I must say i wasn't dissappointed.

Since another foreign student arrived about a week ago we decided to make the trip together. good thing too since we were convinced to hire the english guide and were able to split the guide's fee between us. No regrets hiring the guide, since she explained quite alot.
The sight is composed of 4 pits. Pit 1 contains the bulk of the army (about 7000 soldiers plus total horses, chariots, ect), pit 2 is a little smaller containing alot more cavalry and horses, pit 3 is even smaller than pits 1 and 2 and is the command post which is thought to house all the high ranking millitary figures, and pit 4 actually contains nothing. It's believed they never got around to filling this pit and completing the project.

The tomb of the first emperor of qin itself is in another location a few km away from the terracotta warriors. the guide told us that it's believed the emperor's original intention was to build 4 terracotta warrior tombs, each to stand guard at the 4 different directional gates into the giant mausoleum city, with the tomb of the emperor at the center. They still haven't excavated the entire necropolis of the emperor's tomb since they're still waiting for the development of adequate technology to properly preserve the contents of the tomb when it's eventually openned. You can see in the pic the sight of the t.warriors on the left, and the necropolis of the emperor on the right.

Whats really cool is every single soldier and general has a different face, and even the hairstyles and folds of the clothing or armor worn are different. that's attention to detail!
All the figures are made from soil from the nearby li mountain, and apparently only the souvenier warriors from the t.warrior museum are made from the same soil. This was enough to make me buy a small sourvenier figurine. lets hope australian customs don't confiscate it at the airport! Maybe the customs officer will think its made of synthetic material. Theres also a shop on the grounds where you can get them to image your face onto a picture of a t.warrior, or even get them to make a terracotta warrior with your face on it. scarey. guide reckons it takes 3 months to make. theres some interesting little souvenier figurines you can get. I didn't know they used to play basketball back in the qin dynasty :)

I also ended up buying the official guidebook, and had it personally signed by the farmer who discovered the tomb back in 1974. The guide told us he's not there in the souvenier shop every day, so we were lucky to catch him! He didn't look exactly like the guy in the celebrity photos so they could've put any old guy there and told us it's the original farmer. He still looks like a pretty simple guy for all the celebrity status he now enjoys. wonder if he's made alot of money? heh, maybe he just puts on the simple farmer act for the tourists, then afterwards jumps into his lexus out the back to cruise home to his penthouse in beijing!





On the bus trip home it just so happened that i was munching on some snacks i bought from the supermarket. When you see the pic you'll know why i had to try them. The funny thing is though, i later discovered that each of the little biscuits has a different print, much like the terracotta warriors! How random is that?! though i'm sure they don't have 8000 different koala prints!