Army of Terracotta Warriors

The first excavation pit of Terracotta Warriors.
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After Pingyao, Xi'an feels like a giant metropolis.  Which, with a population of over 6 million, I suppose it is.  It is a really nice mix of modern architecture, neon lights, nightlife, etc and historic structures that have been preserved.  The drum and bell towers, sections of the old city wall still standing, etc.  Really a nice place to be.

The main reason most people come here is to visit the archeological site where the terracotta warriors are on display.  Over 6000 life-sized statues were buried in front of the tomb of the first emporer to unite china around 200BC.  The quality of the sculptures is striking as is the fact that each warrior's face is different.  No one knows if they are representations of members of the actual army or if they are just faces of the craftsman, their family members, and any other models they can find.  For historical reference, 200BC is a little after the Romans had first conquered the rest of Italy but not expanded further.  Much of the rest of the emporers palaces, etc have been lost in time.  An exception is his burial mound which in theory he is still under.  We went past it on the to and from the warriors.  It looks like a small mountain.  Apparently as soon as he took the throne he got 720,000 conscript laborers working on it.  They finished just before he died over 20 years later.  The Chinese claim that it is the largest tomb in the world.  (Bigger than the pyramids in Egypt.  That stated, this is a pile of dirt with trees growing on it and the pyramids are solid rock structures of geometrical perfection.  But hey, the eye of the beholder...)