Xi’An

Hey fellows!

I haven’t been writing for quite a while, I’ve been in some sort of inspirational dip. But that’s all about to change, as I am travelling China now I have loads and loads of things to tell. On the 13th I packed my stuff and flew to Xi’An to join Rebeka and Tjasa on a tour through China.

As some of you might know, Xi’An (literally: Western Peace), formerly called Chang’an, is the starting point of the silk road and very famous for it’s grave of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. This was the guy responsible for construction of the Great Wall and he wanted to be buried together with loads and loads of humans. Apart from his servants that were to be buried alive with him, he ordered his people to build thousands (> 6000) of life-sized human statues from clay. They made a full-scaled army out of clay, divided into different squadrons of archers, horsemen and the like. No horseman without his horse, so they made those as well… The whole area is enormous, and the main mausoleum has not even been excavated yet. We went to the site in the morning, and the main excavation hall looks like this:

Lines and lines of clay figures neatly lined up. But the many rows of excavated statues are not what is most impressive, it is the other halls and the realisation that most of those figures are still buried somewhere. Scans of the area show that it is and insane amount, and at the moment no excavation work is done anymore.

What’s really impressive is the variety in the clay statues, and although they have fairly similar bodies (in several types, of course), the faces are very lively and individual. In one museum we saw a photo display with close-ups of more than 100 faces next to each other!

The craftsmanship is astounding, even things like moustache types are different (Inspiring!)

If you want, you can even have a nifty clay face moulded after yours and then buy a terracotta figure for it…

In the adjoining museum some of the most precious works are exhibited, for example this stunning carriage.

After returning to Xi’An we visited a pagoda from which one had a nice view over the city (hidden behind a veil of smog…). We were especially lucky because we could witness a massive fountain display right next to the pagoda, for 15 minutes numerous fountains were orchestrated to the music of An der schönen blauen Donau by Johann Strauss.

From the pagoda I also spotted this nice fortress, unfortunately it was too far away to take a good picture.

In the pagoda area I found these strikingly beautiful seats, I really wanted to take one of them!

When we exited the pagoda, this tree caught my eye, and I just want to share these two pictures with you.

On the next day we had a “museum day” and firstly went to a museum about the excavation of an neolithic village near Xi’An, called Banpo village. This village is over 6000 years old, and on the site we found some nice reconstructed huts and a museum with artifacts like clay pots and stone tools. It was quite captivating to think about how they must have lived. What I found especially impressing was the mout around the village which was about three metres wide and more than 6 metres deep.

After this museum we visited the Shaanxi History Museum, which was quite a nice building itself. (This is only the left wing.)

I found this museum to be one of the most entertaining museums I have seen so far, two of my favourite pieces are the following.

I really can’t put a finger on it, but I just do like this pot. The other piece is quite famous, and it is not difficult to guess why:

I think this dragon is as Chinese as it gets, and it looks really lively and somehow funny with his hind legs up in the air.

The museum put an emphasis on the silk road and it’s influence in Xi’An, with coins and trade goods.

When we left the museum, we were in for a surprise: Chinese crowds staring at x-ray pictures. At first we were quite surprised, but as soon as we turned we could see what they were staring at: the sun! After having seen so much historical things my first thought was: Help, part of the sun is missing!

Which was the truth. It was stunning. Really stunning. We observed most of it through camera’s and a scarf, and Rebeka managed to make some wonderful pictures of it. See for yourself!

I wonder if one of us is ever going to see such a nice eclipse again in our lives. We were exceptionally lucky to exit the museum at exactly the right time, and I am very happy that I could experience this.

One other attraction of Xi’An is the Muslim quarter. Somehow I felt strangely familiar with the food served there (pita bread filled with grilled meat), although it was more spicy than it’s German counterparts.

In the quarter one can find a huge mosque (more than 1000 people can worship there at the same time). The mosque area is a fascinating combination of Muslim and Chinese architecture, with palm trees and a minaret disguised as a pagoda.

The whole area was lively, during the evening the streets were packed with people. Everywhere strange odours were floating around, and of course many small stalls sold tourist trinkets. And delicious food…

Towards the end of the day we passed a pretty drum tower. Unfortunately we could not listen to any of the regular drum “concerts”, but the tower itself was a nice sight.

Everything about Xi’An was just right, we stayed in a TERRIFIC hostel. Just a few of the really nice things there: free beer every night, free guitars and delicious breakfast. One night we stayed up till 2 or 3 and the whole bar sung along with old classics like Hotel California, Let it be, Free Fallin’ and the like.

It was terrific.

I’m off to Chengdu, of panda fame.

I’ll keep you posted,