Xian and the Terracotta Army

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  Xian, China
Saturday, September 10, 2005

From Zhengzhou to Xian it takes 8hrs by train and we are travelling 'hard seat'. We have tried 'hard sleeper' and 'soft sleeper' before, but due to non-availability of tickets for sleeper classes we are left with no other realistic option.

By the time we board the train its already packed and there's not space to put the rucksacks overhead. Frustrated, I rearrange everyone's luggage, much to their apparent displeasure. It all fits in, and we settle down on the uncomfortable L-shaped seats which live up to their name.

The train journey is interminable because I have run out of books and the MP3 player which we bought in HK has packed in already. In the bottom of Rachel's rucksack I find an old copy of a Cathay Pacific in-flight magazine which I grab with uncharacteristic glee. Rachel settles back with her book

01 Terracota army soldiers

. After reading, we while away the hours by wandering around the carriages aimlessly and gazing out into the endless fields of sweetcorn. Lunch consists of rehydrated noodles and nuts. Eventually we reach the ancient walled city of Xian and breathe a huge sigh of relief.

We stay in a back-packers hostel on the edge of town. Its a real communist-era dump, complete with curt and distant staff, but we dont really care because we plan only to sleep there and spend most of our time out in the city.

In a Kane's cafe next door to the hostel we encounter a relaxed and friendly atmosphere and I meet a couple of lads from Glasgow who give us tips on surviving the city. Mr Khan, the owner of the cafe, is amiable and his wife cooks up good grub. We retire to bed feeling relaxed and happy.

We take the bus out to China's hottest tourist attraction, the Terracotta Army. In 220BC Emperor Qin Shihuang manufactured an entire clay army to guard him in the afterlife. He buried the soldiers, horses, and chariots in underground trenches roofed with timber, and sealed them by laying soil over the top. In 1974 a farmer found pieces of the soldiers when digging a new well, and so ended 2200 years of peaceful slumber.

The trenches containing the army extend over a vast football pitch sized areas, and have modern concrete buildings stretched over them to protect them from the elements. The buildings are air conditioned and provide cool marble pathways and discreet lighting to allow the tourists gaze in awe at the army

02 Excavation site

.

Some of the clay soldiers are badly damaged, but others are remarkably well preserved; you can clearly see the different facial expressions, the details of the clothing and hairstyles. I walk around, and come to the conclusion that this is probably one of the most amazing things I've seen in China.

Next door to the museum is a burial mound for Qin himself. This pyramidal structure is about 100m high, and the earthwork, according to records, took 700,000 workers 13 years to complete. Inside the pyramid, craftsmen built replicas of the night sky using jewels to represent the stars. Even more amazing, they made maps of the world which used flowing mercury to represent the rivers. The mercury was circulated by mechanical means, exactly what no one is sure. All that remains now are the ancient records and a large mound with toxic levels of mercury in the ground.

The next day in Xian we see the Big Goose Pagoda, which was built to house Buddhist scriptures brought from India. Other than its cool name, its not such an exciting attraction. We climb to the top and get a great view of the Xian traffic problems and the smoky sky.

03 Drum Tower

Late in the afternoon we arrive at the Drum tower in the centre of town. We are just in time to see a brilliant performance by a bunch of enthusiastic amateur drummers. The sun is setting through the polluted haze of the city, and the red pillars and giant drums on the outside of the building appear to be on fire.

We wander to the seventh century mosque which is the largest one in China. Its now 7pm and the courtyards are serene in the evening glow. As a mosque, it doesnt conform to my preconcieved ideas, because the architectural style is ancient chinese. However, occasionally we see Arabic writing on the top of stone and marble structures. We may not enter the mosque itself; I see that the muslims are using the place as an active place of worship and the state doesn't seem to 'control the show' as it does of the many buddhist, confucian, and daoist temples.

Outside the mosque are the narrow, bustling lanes of the muslim quarter. We wander around for a while looking at the vast array of paintings, carvings, and nik naks for sale, and taking in the smell of spicy lamb kebabs; we try them for ourselves and they prove to be delicious.

Heading back to the hotel I remark that Xian (population 4M) is a city bursting at the seams. Its hot, polluted, overcrowded, and the traffic is some of the worst I've seen in China. Its clay soldiers and ancient sites are wonderful, but as a city to live in it seems like a hell-hole.

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