Xi'an, Pingyao, Datong - central China
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2007
1
19
27
Trip End
Dec 20, 2007
Xi'an,
Shaanxi,
China
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Hello everyone, we were hoping it would be a bit warmer once we came down from the high altitudes of northern Yunnan Province. This was to be true for Xi'an with it's temperate Autumn weather, but here in Pingyao, a night train journey further North and on the way to Beijing, it's bitter cold with morning frost.
The flight to Xi'an was a prime example of well overdone Chinese bureaucracy. We had a stopover in Kunming and had to take all our hand luggage and ourselves off the train, take the bus to the gate, get our ticket exchanged to an identical one, go back on the bus and on the plane only to sit in the exact same seats again. Regine's tourism manager brain short circuited over this one and I was highly amused. We'd already had 4 hours delay in our take-off so arrived in Xi'an well after dark
Bell Tower sunset, Xi'an
. Chinese Eastern Airlines were very good in supplying us with 2 meals, so we couldn't really complain. We stayed very central following shanna and Derek's advice.The next day we went to see the famous 2300 year old terracotta warriors. The chinese belief around the Qin dynasty (very brief, only one ruler...) was that everything you take to your grave you can make use of in your afterlife. Hence the crafty emperor took over 4000 life size and fully armed clay soldiers with him to protect him from the enemies he'd amassed in his lifetime...these were buried in 3 chambers at the foot of his burial mound facing eath, the direction of the realm of the dead. When his successor was overthrown by what was to become the next dynasty, the underground army was destroyed, set ablaze, and soon forgotton. Only in 1974, when villagers found some terracotta fragments while digging a well, was the large complex rediscovered. The vast majority of the warriors was since unearthed. Due to the ancient devastation and the collapse of the chambers' wooden roof only one archer figure was undamaged and most soldiers reduced to many fragments. A few hundred have since been reassembled and currently about 100 archeologists and pottery whizzes are gluing the boys back together at a rate of one a month. so they'll be busy for another 100 years or so until those that can be reassembled are fixed. The main problem in conservation is that originally the figures were brightly painted with some colour remaining when they were dug out
The terracotta warriors, Xi'an
. Yet oxidation and handling caused practically all colour to fade one hour after excavation. Hence the excavation process has been stopped until a technology has been developed that allows for preservation of the remaining specimens.Other sites worth visiting in the city are the bell and drum tower, a legacy of the Ming dynasty and still present in a few Chinese traditionally walled cities. The towers in Xian (probably China's biggest entirely walled city) have regular performances on the respective intruments which are well worth seeing and traditional furniture and shadow puppet exhibitions as well as views over a smog-infested busy several million inhabitant city.
A very worthwhile stroll should lead you through Xi'an's large muslim quarter with it's snack, smells and skull-capped Chinese muslims. The highlight is definitely the ancient Grand Mosque. Built in the 740s (that's only 120 years after Mohammed got Islam rolling!), it's more ancient chinese than traditional muslim. A stroll leads from one astonishingly beutiful courtyard to the next until you arrive at the prayer hall at the far end. I was awe-struck by it's beauty and am certain that this will remain the most beautiful islamic building I will ever see.
More of the potty men
Next stop by night train was to be Pingyao, an ancient walled town with hardly any cars and surprisingly few Chinese tour groups. The city used to be the financial centre of China over several dynasties until it slid into poverty and insignificance with the Japanese invasion in the early 1900s. Because the town had no money it could not invest into modernisation. Effectively it's still in a 1920's state. somewhat crumbly traditional architecture and a completely intact city wall give it lots of charm. Let's hope the government doesn't funnel too much money into it's touristicisation.
We met up with Paula and Oscar, two budding diplomats from Barcelona, at the train station and ended up sharing a cab to see the Qiao family courtyards some 60km away. This is a typical money lender's estate built with lavish courtyards and exhibiting the way of life of the wealthy and their subjects in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was the set of "raising red lantern", a Jiang Yimou movie (the guy who's doing the olympic games opening celebration, remember?). Sadly this has led to a Chinese tour group infestation unlike any we'd experienced so far. The place was jam-packed which did diminish the athmosphere of the place markedly.
On the way back we visited a temple (forgot name, sadly) just outside of town. This was pleasently empty in contrast and was fabulously serene in it's layout and rightly holds UNESO world heritage status for it's buddhist figures and frescoes from the 11th-16th centuries. Definitely worth a visit.
15 November entry:
Sadly Regine had caught a stomach upset in Xi'an
Hangin' with the clay dudes
. We were planning to move onwards from Pingyao by night train without staying, but Regine was too weak to travel on, so we stayed in the pleasant and very traditional Harmony Youth Hostel in town. The lady who runs it must be the most accomplished businesswoman I've ever met. Not only does she run a great place, but also sends people to tout passengers arriving on even the earliest trains towards her place, organises non-existent train beds, etc. We were impressed. After a long night Regine was then in a state that we could wander the streets, sites (mainly former bank houses) and ancient city walls. There was an extortionate all or nothing entrance ticket to all of the 19 sites within town. So you couldn't just pick out individual ones. It's well worth it, though, if you have time and a student card (we just bought two separate tickets at two different offices with Regine's student card).
That night we took the night train to Datong where we went to see the Gunyung buddhist caves. Now that's a sight to behold! Over 1000 year old intricate sculptures were crafted into a string of man-made sandstone caves over one kilometer in length. The best thing was that, because the sculptures were largely protected from the elements, the colour still remains on many of the glorious works of art
This is a mosque!!! Xi'an
. We were very impressed. But the blistering cold really got to Regine who was still weakened.We had then booked another sleeper train to Beijing. This was during the day. Those 5 hours snoozing away in the warm train were true bliss after so many days of relentless cold.
In Beijing we initially stayed two nights in a very athmospheric and affordable Hostel near Tiananmen Square. But as the stomach bug had now reached me we thought a cold room was no longer an option. It's a shame, because this place is fab and a recommendation to anyone on a budget anytime but winter. It's 200 years old with a roofed courtroom you can play table tennis and badminton in and check your emails. It has a tiny little basement pub attached to it which is great even if you're not staying for the athmosphere and the beer for 3 RMB. From that pub there's also alledgedly an underground tunnel to the forbidden city through which the occasional emperor snuck out incognito to sample the simple life. (For all travellers: pick up a ubiquitous card showing the way to Leo's Hostel, then keep going until you reach the fork in the road and it's the place with the red lanterns on the right-hand side, sadly the name escapes me, but look for the sign mentioning the tunnel. Thanks to whoever gave us the tip!)
So now I'm recovering in our new (heated) abode, the Qian Men Youth Hostel. Regine's just returned from one of her solitary excursions and we'll try for my first meal in 36 hours (the trial squid-on-a-stick earlier this afternoon stayed down).
More on Beijing in the next entry.
