Quote of the Day:
Me (reading a wall placard at the Temple of Heaven): "Oh, Nixon visited here."
My sister: "Why??"
After a quick jaunt through the Temple of Heaven, we bid adieu to the Northern Capital (Beijing) and headed to the city of Western Peace, Xian.
As a minor sidenote, Beijing was the only place where I had managed to find the address of any Dr. Fish, and with our departure came the sad, subtle failure of Goal 3.
Water calligrapher
Temple of Heaven
Not much about this 700 year old structure had changed in the past 3 years
Everyone was still trying to get a picture on this giant Frisbee
Everyone was still trying to get a picture on this giant Frisbee
Xian had been the capital of China for many years prior to Beijing holding that title, and was the Eastern terminus of the Silk Road. Because of its cultured history, Xian is often deemed "the China of the past." Yet this seems to be somewhat of a misnomer, as this same city which houses the ancient terra cotta warriors and historic mosques and pagodas is also a quickly growing city home to 3 million residents.
My Chinese teacher at Brown used to tell us Xian had another nickname as well- "The Furnace City"- due to its unbearable temperature during the summer months. Ironically, we would have welcomed a furnace in our Xian hotel since we had arrived during the odd period of time when temperatures were still low but it was illegal for hotels to turn on their heaters.
Xian is also noteworthy for being home to the Xian Incident- the fateful alliance of the previously opposed Nationalists and Communists to take down their common Japanese foe. Because the alliance provided a critical lifeline to the struggling Communists from which they positioned themselves into dominance, one could argue that Xian is also the birthplace of modern China.
The fusion of old and new at our hotel restaurant
Saturday morning we ventured off to Xian's primary attraction, the terra cotta warriors, but not before making the obligatory stop at a factory. This particular terra cotta factory boasted its own army of terra cotta warriors. To be honest, the factory bettered the terra cotta museum in two ways- you could actually get up close and personal with these warriors and you could even get a warrior sculpted in your own image (for a price).
Our bus dropped us off a few hours before noon at the terra cotta warrior museum, which has earned the distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage site. Once inside the museum entrance, our Xian guide Connie explained the layout of the museum and the three different pits where the warriors had been found.
As we listened to Connie's description of the terra cotta warrior museum, a Chinese college student spotted our group of foreigners and began snapping pictures of us. Realizing his conspicuity, he positioned his friend between our tour group and his camera and continued snapping away in an almost farcical routine.
As a brief interlude to our sightseeing tour of the architectural and cultural wonders of the Middle Kingdom, our group visited a cave home. This type of dwelling is apparently not altogether uncommon, especially for farmers, and consisted of a main room with a bed, table, and countertop, and a more rudimentary, unfurnished room behind it. Before we could feel too bad for these humble dwellers, though, Connie informed us that farmers in the area received healthcare for virtually no cost, thanks to a government-funded program.
My Chinese teacher at Brown used to tell us Xian had another nickname as well- "The Furnace City"- due to its unbearable temperature during the summer months. Ironically, we would have welcomed a furnace in our Xian hotel since we had arrived during the odd period of time when temperatures were still low but it was illegal for hotels to turn on their heaters.
Xian is also noteworthy for being home to the Xian Incident- the fateful alliance of the previously opposed Nationalists and Communists to take down their common Japanese foe. Because the alliance provided a critical lifeline to the struggling Communists from which they positioned themselves into dominance, one could argue that Xian is also the birthplace of modern China.
The fusion of old and new at our hotel restaurant
Saturday morning we ventured off to Xian's primary attraction, the terra cotta warriors, but not before making the obligatory stop at a factory. This particular terra cotta factory boasted its own army of terra cotta warriors. To be honest, the factory bettered the terra cotta museum in two ways- you could actually get up close and personal with these warriors and you could even get a warrior sculpted in your own image (for a price).
Our bus dropped us off a few hours before noon at the terra cotta warrior museum, which has earned the distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage site. Once inside the museum entrance, our Xian guide Connie explained the layout of the museum and the three different pits where the warriors had been found.
As we listened to Connie's description of the terra cotta warrior museum, a Chinese college student spotted our group of foreigners and began snapping pictures of us. Realizing his conspicuity, he positioned his friend between our tour group and his camera and continued snapping away in an almost farcical routine.
Temporary tour guide
Connie, before the lone paparazzi discovered us
Pit 1
Over 1,000 soldiers and horses have been unearthed thus far in Pit 1, which was fortuitously discovered in the '70s by a farmer trying to dig a well. That farmer now has a cush job at the gift shop, signing autographs and angrily pushing away people who try to take pictures of him... that is, unless they've paid the requisite fee.
What was arguably even more remarkable than the enormous scale of this terra cotta endeavor was the fact that the majority of the warriors had been found broken into many pieces and had needed to be painstakingly reassembled by archaeologists. It seems that Pit 1 had fallen victim to a rebellion against the Qin Emperor, wherein peasant farmers had torched the pit and caused the roof to fall in, crushing the warriors below.
Shards of warriors
The Chinese- inventors of paper, gunpowder... and planking
The wonders of the world that tend to amaze me the most, however, are the gastronomical ones, and it turned out Xian was known for two foods in particular- noodles and dumplings. For lunch, we dined on the former and had the option of choosing from homemade noodles in soup or sauce. Suffice it to say the noodles did not disappoint.
As a brief interlude to our sightseeing tour of the architectural and cultural wonders of the Middle Kingdom, our group visited a cave home. This type of dwelling is apparently not altogether uncommon, especially for farmers, and consisted of a main room with a bed, table, and countertop, and a more rudimentary, unfurnished room behind it. Before we could feel too bad for these humble dwellers, though, Connie informed us that farmers in the area received healthcare for virtually no cost, thanks to a government-funded program.
The cave house that in some ways reminded me of Kyrgyzstan
The dinner menu that evening initially sounded promising- a dumpling banquet offering unique varieties of dumplings, Xian's second culinary specialty. To be honest, I don't think I've had worse dumplings in my life. The dumpling chefs certainly earned points for visual style and aesthetics, fashioning the bite-sized morsels into ducks, fish, and other creatures. If only they had expended the same efforts on the dumplings' taste as they had on their appearance. After a Tang dynasty entertainment show, jet lag began to take its nightly toll and we all headed back to the hotel to gear up for our last day in the furnace.
Cabbage and goldfish dumplings
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