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Even with the help of our host Wei and the previous efforts of our Korean friend, we weren't able to secure tickets for a sleeper car on the train to Xi'an. Horrified by the thought of sitting for 30 hours in a packed, smoky train car, we decided to fly.
The international airport in Guilin was small but surprisingly clean and smoke free. Our flight was quick, civilized like any other, and a mere two hours after leaving Guilin we touched down in Xi'an.
Xi'an is one of the few remaining cities in China where defensive perimeter walls still stand. We'd heard how impressive the walls were but nothing quite does them justice like seeing them in person. The walls form a rectangle around the city with a circumference just under 14km. They are over 36 feet high with a varying width between 36 and 50 feet. The walls are so massive that air raid shelters have been hollowed out of them.
We spent an hour one afternoon walking along the top of the wall and found it surprisingly quite. The admission price has increased nearly 600% in the past 5 years, effectively pricing out the locals. Other than the occasional tourist pedaling by on a rented bike (that's right, they rent bikes on the wall), the wall was deserted. It was nice to have peace and quiet, but sad to see that locals couldn't afford to enjoy part of their cultural heritage.
Perhaps our main reason for traveling to Xi'an was to see the world famous Terracotta Warriors. The history and discovery of the Army is as fascinating as the sight.
Credited with unifying China for the first time, the tyrannic Emporer Qinshihuang enslaved 700,000 laborers to construct his tomb. An army of at least 8,000 life size warriors was buried with him to protect him in the afterlife. Nearly 2000 years later, in 1974, peasants digging a well uncovered an underground vault of earth and timber which would eventually yield the warriors.
Three large vaults are currently being excavated at the sight. The largest is said to contain over 7,000 full size warriors and horses in battle formation. Not only does each warrior don the proper armor of the time, but is also positioned in strict accordance with an ancient book on the art of war. One of the more interesting aspects of the warriors is that each of their faces is entirely different. As you can see from our pictures, their heads, hair, and facial expressions all differ. The faces are believed to have been modeled after the workers who were enslaved to build the tomb. While the faces were shaped by hand, the bodies were made using molds.
The museum was more of an archeological dig than we expected. The largest pit does not simply have 7,000 warriors standing in rows. Only a thousand or so have been excavated, repaired, and returned to their proper battle positions. The rest of the large 210 meter long vault is still covered in dirt, its secrets still buried under piles of dirt.
The first pit we visited was the second largest and nearly entirely untouched. Its active dig sites were strewn with broken pieces of warriors, horses, and bricks. Of the three vaults, the smallest one is the closest to its original condition with warriors and horses pieced together and standing in battle formation.
Our stay in Xian was short but well spent. Onward to Beijing!
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