Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an, China

Ping Ma Yong, the terracotta warriors

Over 2,200 years ago, when peasants carved the arid Chinese lands and Kingdoms across China fought for superiority, one man rose and unified all the lands. Emperor Qin Shi Huang became China's first emperor and founder of the Qin Dynasty. 

Ready at attention

Under his rule large scale construction projects were begun including the Great Wall but most notably he built himself an imperial gigantic mausoleum. Inside the tomb, it has been described were palaces of riches, rivers of mercury and frescos of the day sky. Most impressively however as a way to protect and aid him during his impending afterlife he had over 700,000 builders and slaves carve and painstakingly built at least 7,500 terracotta soldiers as well as horses, chariots and servants from clay found beneath the ground. Sealed off and closed for centuries the mausoleum was accidentally discovered around the 1950's. The tomb, known in Chinese as Ping Ma Yong (soldier and horse funerary statues) has become a world wide sensation and one of China's most ancient treasures. 

Soldiers and their horses

We had only just arrived in the hot and dry imperial city of Xi'an and pushing through the hoards of people we went off in search of the bus station. Hoping to find a direct bus to Ping Ma Yong, Emperor Qin's famous Terracotta Warriors we wiggled through the crowds with our small bags.

The bus was easy to spot, there was a slow moving mass of people with arms, legs and children circling around the periphery. It was hot outside, the air was dry, dusty and the pollution level was high but we joined the hoard eager to go and see the famous Warriors. The bus was back-sweating hot and unsurprisingly overcrowded. We soon set off into the Chinese countryside passing small rural towns. 

John resting in the shade

The traffic was horrendous and we arrived an hour later than the scheduled time due to the endless lines of cars. As we had approached we think the bus driver was also so fed up and deciding he'd had enough pulled over and ordered everyone off. Fair enough, we were close enough to walk, but we didn't know at the time what was going on or where we were! There were stalls along some of the paths selling cold rice noodles, kebab-like meat and further on the drying furry skins of that meat. 

Entry into building one

Finding our way through at least a thousand car carpark we kept our sights on the large McDonalds and surely there was the ticket office. 

Lining up for tickets was confusing and a shambles, so we both joined a line and watched which one went faster. As a public holiday during one of only three long weekends in China it was particularly busy and all around us tour group operators shouted through megaphones to be heard. The tickets got us through two checkpoints, a bag check and the long warm walk through a straggly patch of bush. 

The tombs of the Terracotta army, were initially discovered by a local farmer out working his fields, digging a well for water. Today his land is owned by the government and he lives a comfortable life signing books for tourists. As we approached the end of the path, in front of us were large white concrete buildings. Each one protecting one of the unearthed pits, inside. 

As it was a particularly busy day there were people milling about like Australian flies. Some where taking shade under large green trees, squatting on the ground and fanning themselves. Others stood around smoking while their children happily ran through the gardens chowing on processed sausage sticks. 

Masses of people

Hiding from the strong sun

We weren't really sure where to go first so we randomly turned right and walked into the first white building. Inside was an unorderly mass of chaotic people at least 6 rows deep in a frenzy to see something. Cameras and selfie sticks were thrust into the air and elbows were flying left and right, forward and backward. We were surprised to say the least but we weren't worried, we had this and we dived into the tsunami wiggling our way forward.

Lost your ropes there buddy

Parts of the graves

We didn't stay in the first building long which happened to be a sort of collections museum rather than an open pit like what we expected. 

Horse drawn carriage found in the tomb

Close up of a soldier

Soldier made to fight

Protected horse and soldier

Trying to avoid the hot sunshine as much as possible we quickly darted into what looked like the largest building. We found the first big pit, dark and protected from any natural light, we squinted and stared down at the broken fragments of men before us.

Ready to serve their emperor in the after life

These are the collapsed roofs of the pit

Below in the pit were hundreds of these intricately carved life size masterpieces; the sheer size and difficulty of the first emperors enormous task lay before us. So many of the warrior men stand headless or limbless, but the grandeur of what they once were still emanates from the dark carved tombs. As we stood looking down we overheard a young Chinese girl leading a tour, she said many people died during the creation of the Terracotta Warriors from starvation and maltreatment.

Time has taken its toll

The emperor was a brutal leader who forced labour on the masses, taking slaves as far away as Japan but what he created from their efforts is truly astonishing. Just in March, two months ago, archeologists believed that they have also found forty five mass tombs from the Qin dynasty which are believed to be a number of the 720,000 builders.

Heads, appendages and torsos

What stuck out to us was that every soldier has its own unique face and the entire army was placed in battle order, separated by rank and rule ready to serve their emperor in the afterlife. 

The statues, buried upright, stand in formation and although they have now been removed at one time each warrior held real weapons such as bows, spears or swords. We read that the rank of the soldiers can be determined by the arrangement of the hair. 

One bob in the hair is for the common soldier, the infantry man, or the archer. A boxy headpiece adorned the officials while a general would have two bobs in his hair. 

Lined up to protect

Lone soldier

After walking the entire edge of the first pit we again raced outside through the harsh afternoon heat and into the next, the largest pit. On entering we were suddenly caught from behind and thrown against a wave of people, squashed against a human wall unable to move forward or back. It was madness as people fought to see the thousands of warriors below. 

Replicated soldiers from across China

Eventually we made our way to the front with our hip bones grinding on the metal railing and elbows digging into our sides. It was here that we let out an impressive sigh, 'wow' the pit was ginormous, huge against all odds. As we admired the pit we overheard a young American couple next to us who had also squeezed their way forward. It was evident that they strongly felt the warriors were fake. We asked them why they thought that and they quickly, in a matter of fact way said the army was 'discovered' during the cultural revolution, at a time when Mao Zedong was comparing himself to Qin Shihuang and that the discovery would have symbolised him as a unifier. Also soldiers are described as over 1.76 tall, which is much taller than even the average Chinese man today let alone men at that time, but not only that, they believed that the famous army, was just a heap of charred rubbishes a mix of dust and fragments when exhumed. Sure there may once have been warriors but these weren't them, they said.

The soldiers were once painted

Close up on a soldier

Made it to the front! 

We looked closer, did something feel off? Here maybe they were too lined up, separated by rank and rule but maybe they seemed too perfect. There were very few broken limbs and the tidiness and their suggestions left us too feeling suspicious as to the Warriors' authenticity. However, real or not we had to admire that the absolute size and work having gone into creating them is impressive. Which story is true we might never know. It is China after all.

By the time we had finished looking around we went off in search of a bus back to Xi'an.

Tot siens,

John and Kara

Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China

Qujianhchunyuan Park, South Xian

We couldn't wait to visit Xi'an - with more than 3000 years of history under its ancient belt, Xi'an is considered the most historical city across China. 

Our chance came, it was a long weekend and with time off work we had pre booked tickets on the overnight express from Chengdu to Xi'an. Being a long weekend, not only were we on holiday, so was everyone else. 

For thousands of years Chang'an (now modern day Xi'an) was the capital for 13 imperial dynasties, and a total of 73 emperors and empresses ruled over the ancient city, becoming the undisputed root of Chinese civilization. As the great terminus of the famous Silk Road, traders from far and wide brought goods and ideas for sale and took goods and ideas back with them to their native countries creating a wealth of knowledge and a rich cultural hub.

Hanging with locals on the train!

We slept well enough on the smokey overnight train that bumped and bounced its way north over the Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces. In the morning, as we ate our instant noodles and processed sausages in the forever growing cigarette stench, we inched closer to Xi'an. 

In six bed bunks across from us we were befriended by several local students - one of whom could speak English well enough to translate our poor Chinese and relay what we didn't understand from the numerous questions being fired in our direction. 

After taking photos of us and posting them onto China's social media hub- WeChat, they gave us a few pointers on places to visit in their home town. This included the infamous Ping Ma Yong - (which we later realised is the Chinese name for the Terracotta Warriors). 

They were very friendly, although most of the time they seemed to fall back into talking about us, rather than to us. Once we arrived in Xi'an, crowds were everywhere. We struggled to get out of the train station. It was warmer than we had anticipated and the mid morning sky was a hazy yellow. Above us towered the city wall shadowing us and defiantly emphasising its strength. We decided to spend the day exploring  Ping Ma Yong (check out the blog here) and so headed off directly from the train station to the bus station!

Pork and Cabbage Dumpling!

When we returned from the extremely uncomfortable bus journey back into Xi'an City, we had to walk several kilometres to our hostel. We were so tired and as it was also Kara's birthday and we had yet to pass a cake shop so we were feeling a little sad. 

Our hostel, the Han Tang Inn was located down a dark, smelly alley and suspiciously we walked down. We came across the Han Tang Hostel but coldly they informed us they didn't have a booking for us and we should try elsewhere. We were right mighty annoyed and took out our reservation in which they informed us, Yes, see, we are at the Han Tang Hostel but go down the road to the Han Tang Inn. We wondered if they get that a lot, with such a similar name.

Birthday girl! 

So we kept walking down into the depths of the alley. Several kids chased us, a small puppy yapped at their heels. Arriving eventually, the place seemed clean and stay-able. Any fears we had remaining washed away as the hostel had overbooked and wanted to upgrade us, but not only that, as soon as they realised we were un-celebrating a birthday they decided to throw together an impromptu dumpling party! 

It was a very simple we-will-show-you-how-to-make-em-and-you-do-em-yourself style! It turned out to be lots of fun and we had a lot of fun rolling out the dough and stuffing them with pork mince. Many of the other hostel guests joined in and once they were cooked, we feasted! 

The following day we had a well deserved sleep-in. A cold buffet breakfast of Chinese vegetables and white rice across the street and then we hit the road! On bikes!

Checking the map

Firstly we cycled through the crazy busy main roads of Xi'an and out of the inner city walls making a stop at the historical Big Goose Pagoda. Located four kilometres from Xian's down town in the Qujiangchunyuan Park it was a hectic cycle as we weaved in and out between cars. 

The large Pagoda was named after an ancient Buddhist legend. According to stories of Buddhists, there were two branches of Buddhism, one vegetarian the other not. One day, they couldn't find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: "Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful god will give us some." At that very moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that their god showed his spirit in order to teach them understanding. They established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat.

Front angle view of the pagoda 

Side view of the pagoda

However, in contradiction to the story, the large ornate pagoda was actually first built in 652 (during the Tang Dynasty) by Buddhist translator and traveler Xuanzang. He hoped to be able to provide the people a place to worship and also store his many Buddha figurines and sutras. It originally had five stories, although the structure was rebuilt in 704 during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian to include a further two and its exterior brick facade was renovated during the Ming Dynasty. 

Beiyuanmen Street

After exploring the large park we stopped for a McCafe coffee then made our way back to the hostel and dropped off the bikes.

By foot we hit the streets and went in search of Beiyuanmen Street, a Muslim quarter and street food paradise! Beiyuanmen Muslim Street located in a neighbourhood of twisted narrow streets has a long history. 

It is said that in olden days, foreign diplomatic envoys and merchants lived here, then they married and had children, so gradually the population increased. Today, most of the 20,000 inhabitants are the descendants of those immigrants.

Classic deep-fried banana

Green stuff in a Pita

Handmaking the peanut crisp

The Main Street is lined with stores on both sides, you can see the local Muslim men wearing their typical white hats sitting inside the stores, talking and smoking together. Outside, the locals stand by old wooden carts selling authentic handmade Muslim food and other Xi'an specialty products. Some men pull and twist at the dough of a peanut twist while others alongside hoist large hammers in the air bringing them smacking down on the nuts. Everyone is busy, locals and tourists alike.

Kebab's on the ready

Local date products

Jujube cake

We tried all sorts of street foods like the crunchy deep-fried bananas, the local Jujube and date cake and stuffed spiced pita's. After a bit of shopping and hard bargaining (check out Kara's panda hat a little further on!) we walked over towards the Drum tower.

Xi'an City Drum Tower

The big old Drum Tower, initially built in 1380 was used during the Yuan Dynasty to signal the running of time and on occasion was used as an alarm in emergency situations, of course it has been renovated several times since. It was impressively stand-offish and centrally located on a larger roundabout. We decided to not go in but to keep walking on.

Hiring our tandem bike

From the tower we walked to the City Wall Southern Mingxianchengqiang gate.  

The Xi'an City wall was first conceived when Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang  (1368-1644), captured an eccentric nomadic hermit named Zhu Sheng. 

The hermit foretold that the Emperor would unify China but in turn to succeed he must first build high walls and store abundant food supplies. So he set about creating a circular wall of piled mud and rice. 

Kara and John going tandem

In 1568 it was fortified with bricks making it one of the strongest impenetrable walls of its time. The wall, one of best preserved in China, now stands 12 meters tall, 12-14 meters wide at the top and 15-18 meters thick at the bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometers in length with a deep moat surrounding it.

Walking through the large wooden door gate on the southern side we entered an ancient courtyard. With stairs built up the inner side we where able to climb up onto the wall. 

John racing ahead

A bell on the Wall

The roof of building within the Walls

Chinese lanterns around the Wall

Looking down into the moat

Here we hired a tandem bicycle and spent two hours cycling around the entire wall! The path made from cobble stones was VERY bumpy and the afternoon sun beat down on us! For the first part of our tandem, we stopped often looking over the city and checking out the guard stations scattered atop the wall towers.

Taking a 'pit-stop'

There were lots of long straight stretches where we cycled along in rhythm letting the wind blow in our hair. From high up on the city wall we got a very good look in towards the ancient city. 

Although most historic buildings have long been torn down there were a few gems and below the wall a beautiful green space made the surrounding area attractive. 

After a while everything began to look similar as we past watch tower after watch tower so, to make the ride more fun, we began to race other tandem bikers and we had a hoot! 

This little soldiers joining in

Sunset in Xi'an

After the cycle we had just enough time to grab some snacks and walk the entire length of the wall again to collect our bags and make it to the train station for our (extremely) unpleasant seated 16hour train trip home to Beijing.

Tot siens,

John and Kara