Terra Cotta Warriors

Time to take on some warriors.

But first we did a visit to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a well-preserved ancient building and an active holy place for Buddhists.  Rated as a National Key Cultural Relic Preserve, it really was a pleasant surprise for me, since I didn't even know we were going there!

The bells and drums in the towers here are over 600 years old, and are still used daily since it is active.  While there is one main building to pray to buddha, there are other side buildings housing all the other gods for praying purposes.  Some rooms so incredibly ornate, it is mind boggling.  We were then taken in for a "lecture" and shown art, painted on rice paper.  Everything was very symbolic and almost everything means the same thing: happiness, good fortune and luck.

We visited a terra-cotta warrior making kiln and a furniture making store before finally arriving at the warriors.  The pollution seemed to be clearing up slightly throughout the day and the mountains in the background started to become more visible.

The Terra Cotta Warriors were built for the protection of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, in his afterlife, and various chariots and member of an army were buried with him in 210 BC.  The site has also received UNESCO designation, so I'm pretty excited to strike another one  off my list.

We had a long walk to the first of the pits where the warriors were discovered by accident in 1974.  It is one of the worlds most important recent archaeological finds,  Three excavation pits have been opened to the public with a fourth underway.  Troops, horses and chariots abound in formation status.

The first pit, and the largest pit housed the most warriors.  My memory thinks the number is 8000 and continues to grow as they continue to excavate.  All of the warriors within the pits held bronze weapons; crossbows, arrows, spears etc.  Pit 1 is a combined battle formation of charioteers and infantrymen.  At the eastern end of the pit there are three rows of vanguards.  Immediately behind the vanguards is the main body of the battle formation.  Around the outer edge, there is one row of soldiers facing south, north, and west respectively as flanks to guard the sides and rear of the army.  Each soldier face is different, and there are multiple levels of soldier.  Arrow men kneeling, arrow men standing, generals, charioteers...it goes on and on.  Any wooden chariots were burnt or rotted, however some remains are still visible as imprints in the soil.  Before the pit was discovered, local people in modern times used to build tombs on top of the pit, which were also visible.

Many pottery warriors and horses were stuck together from hundreds of broken pieces, and the restoration techniques used to salvage the artifacts are proudly displayed in the museum.  A new bit of information I learned is that they were originally painted.  In the 70's, technology hadn't advanced enough to be able to preserve the paint that was on the warriors, therefore they are now rather plain.  New ones that are currently being discovered however, are better preserved and the paint remains intact.

We moved on to Pit 3, which was excavated between March and September of 1977.  It is the smallest pit found to date.  Which is really no small statement, because the space it takes up is still large.  This area was essentially set up as a "war room".  Warriors were found in tight quarters face to face and in close proximity to the stables, where horses and charioteers were at the ready at a moments notice, facing a sloping road serving as an entrance on the eastern end of the pit.

The last and final pit, Pit 2 was more of the same, however it was to hold all of the warriors and horses at the ready to fight.  The size of these pits are huge.  Pit 1 is two soccer fields large, and I estimate Pit 2 is about one soccer field large.

Pit 2 had the most exciting discovery IMO.  A pair of bronze chariots complete with wagons and drivers in excellent condition, originally buried in a wooden box for 2000 years.  The inside of the wagons were decorated inside, and were even found complete with extra supplies should the driver experience a breakdown, like a container to hold water, extra straps for the horses, and pieces to put together a wheel.  The amount of detail that went into each warrior, horse or pieces is astonishing.

We eventually had to leave, but what a highlight it was.  Upon our return to our hotel, we had a little time to get ready before heading out again for dinner and a show.  We went to a Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show. Dinner and dance performance which reflects the rich cultural history and prosperity of thee Tang Dynasty (618-907 BC).  Dinner was pretty good and was listed as a 5 star restaurant.  The show consisted of a band, and singers and lovely colorful costumes, and loud drum banging, and unfortunately very high pitched flutes mimicking a bird tweet.  I think many dogs ran from the theatre that were within a 3 km radius.  I had to plug my ears!!

It was a very long day and I finished it up with a hot bath.  Ready to conquer another!

JA