Wednesday, 28 September 2016
China: Day 16 - Xi'an (PM)
After lunch we traveled out of Xi'an toward the site of the warriors. Along the way we stopped at ceramics factory where they made a variety of warrior replicas, ranging from about 6 inches tall to full size. We even had the opportunity to have our pictures taken so that they could build a life size warrior replica - with a custom carved head - delivered to us in Canada. Sadly we couldn't justify the $7,000+ price tag. It would have made a GREAT souvenir.
What better way to end our trip than a visit to the Terracotta Warriors and Horse Museum. Absolutely astounding! I don't think one could ever get enough pictures to do it justice. At times you just had to stand and stare, trying to imagine the people and circumstances involved in creating such a monument. All in the belief that such an army would provide support to the emperor in maintaining his power in the after life.
We were told that to begin with, the entire site was excavated in a series of trenches. Each trench was then covered with timbers and a significant layer of soil. This made the tunnels. The warriors, horses, chariots, etc. were placed inside.
I had one misconception corrected when I arrived. I had mistakenly believed that warriors were somehow found intact, standing row on row. The truth is that all of them were either smashed after the emperor died or when the timber roof of the tunnels was set on fire. History indicates that the project was never finished. The emperor died before completion, and because he was a disliked tyrant, there was a revolt after his death. Today you can see the black marks in the soil from the burned timbers, and you can make out ridges on the top of each trench where the edges of each timber rested.The warriors we see have been painstakingly reassembled and glued back together. In a number of pictures you can see the smashed remnants of the statues as the are uncovered from the ground. Other pictures show the work areas where they are piece by piece reassembling the statues.
