Ancient Warriors of Xi'an

Terracotta Army at attention
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Ancient Warriors of Xi’an

March 20, 2007

we left with an appreciation that the Chinese civilization is indeed an old civilization with a deep, rich and diverse history.

The walls on each side of the terracotta figures originally supported timber roofs
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Xi’an is the city noted worldwide for the famous terracotta army found nearby. This was the impetus for our overnight train journey from Beijing to Xi’an. We boarded a train at 5 p.m. that would take us overnight to Xi’an arriving early the next morning at 6 a.m. This was our first experience with Chinese trains and we were quite impressed by the punctuality of the departure and by the comfort of the soft sleeper berths. We (except for Barb who still insists on a degree of cleanliness) even braved the dining car and managed to order food from the Chinese menu. After a fairly good night of sleep, we arrived in Xi’an without incident.

Terracotta figures emerging from the dirt of the collapsed roof
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Xi’an has a large Muslim community and it was while visiting the charming Muslim Quarters in the city that we were told by one of the store keepers that one can get to the terracotta army by public bus #306. Thus, being the frugal (i.e. cheap) travelers that we are, we decided that we would take the local bus rather than pay a private guide to take us. Since we are now getting rather used to being the only western tourists around, we had no problems braving the local bus. It became somewhat stressful, however, as many of the Chinese tourists piled off at a touristy looking stop and we didn’t know whether to follow or not. We eventually saw an English sign, however, indicating that this was a hot spring that they were visiting and thus we carried on. The bus eventually reached the end of its route and we got off with the few remaining tourists at the correct destination.

Close-up of some warriors
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We decided that since we saved on the ride up, we would hire an English speaking guide to show us around the terracotta army site. Cici, our guide gave us much insight into the history of this archeological site. The army was first discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. Since then more than 7,000 of these bigger than life-size terracotta warriors have been found in 4 different pits covering many acres. This is said to be the most important archeological find of the century. These figures were part of the burial site of Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (221 – 206 BC), who also began the construction of the Great Wall. Ancient records revealed that the burial site was built over a 10 year period with over 700,000 slave labourers. No two figures are alike and researchers believe they were actually modeled after real people. Not only were there terracotta figures found, but also found were two half-sized bronze horse drawn chariots intricately cast (and since restored) as well as swords still sharp and bright after 2000 years of burial. Researchers have since discovered that the Qin weapon makers already had chrome plating technology which we generally consider to be a 20^th century invention.

An archer figure shown in the museum
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The pictures that one usually sees of the terracotta army are actually figures that have been restored. Most of the finds are still underground and the figures crushed from the weight of the collapsed timber roofs. The effort to reassemble the broken pieces will be massive and is ongoing. The reconstruction seems to be as massive a project as the original building and will take much longer Mind you, they don’t have 700,000 free labourers working on it now!

When we compare the different ancient civilizations that we have encountered on our journey such as the Minoans, the Greeks, and the Romans, the Chinese ancient civilization was perhaps even grander than any of these western civilizations. Certainly, the Chinese emperors spared no expense in terms of labour and cost for their own purposes. During its time, the scope of work rivaled anything in the western world. As evidenced by this archeological finds, the artistry, the metal working technology, and the scale of construction of this ancient Chinese civilization was second to none.

As an interesting aside, these terracotta figures are one of the main western tourist attractions in China. People from all over the world come to see them. We met a group of teenaged girls who were part of a basketball team. It turned out that they were from Britannia High School in Vancouver – the very school that I (David) attended. In speaking with their coach, I found out that next year is the 100^th anniversary of that school (as well as my 30^th grad anniversary) and a huge celebration is being planned at B.C. Place (Lambert, you better get your tux ready). Talk about the world being a small place.

As we took our #306 bus back to Xi’an, we left with an appreciation that the Chinese civilization is indeed an old civilization with a deep, rich and diverse history.