Terracotta Warriors

Xian is the capital of Shanxi province, also known as the heart of china. It was the cultural and political center of china from about 1000 BCE-100CE. The first unified empire, the Qin dynasty, was localed here. In Xian, the must see sight is the famed Army of Terracotta Warriors. Naively, we expected, that paying for an english guide, 310 RMB per person, would get us an english guide. As it turned out, a woman who only spoke Chinese said the english guide wasn't there and that she would be our guide.

After much haggling, we managed to switch buses at the first museum to a guide who spoke some english. We were adopted by the other chinese people on our tour and it actually worked out better than if we had taken an all foreigner (waiguoren) tour. The Chinese like to stop at lots of little trinket places and small museums, most of which were unimpressive. They like dioramas and reconstructions, sort of like american funhouses. One of the better sites was a mountain behind which Chang Kai Shek was captured during the Xian incident. You can also have a picture with a Chang look alike for only 10 yuan.

The first emporer, Chin, a crazed paranoid megalomaniac originally wanted to bury live soldiers to protect his tomb- the pottery garrison was a compromise. Despite his wrathfulness, the empire progressed amazingly during his reign--due to standardization of weights and measures, the Chinese alphabet, money, as well as the size of the chariots on the road. The terracotta warriors are truly a sight to behold. The soldiers are aligned in rows with channels of dirt separating the different groups. They were standing in actual military formation with generals, infanty, etc. in their respective places. They are life-size and individualized. It's hard to believe that they were crafted in the second century B.C.E. The Qin Empire also mastered metalworks and there are two beautiful copper chariots that are well preserved. One of the highlights of our trip was getting the signature of the old farmer who found the warriors back in the 1970s. He's become a self-stylized icon.

Hello Again and Chinese Trains

Dear Loyal Readers,

You must be wondering why I have not updated the blog in several weeks. Of course, have not forgotten about you. About a month ago, my American lao po, Hannah, arrived and we have been traveling around the country. Several times, we have tried to update the blog with our travels, but have not been able to access the website.

It would be impossible to relay the comprehensive details of our travels thus far. As we know, brevity is the soul of wit...

After leaving Beijing several weeks ago, and bidding farewell to our brother-in-law and traveling companion, Peter, we made our way to Xian by train. The ride was 12 hours and we had a comfortable sleeper with air conditioning. The city of Xian and the surrounding area have a wealth of archaeological sites, as it was the first center of Chinese civilization.

Traveling in China is not easy though. We had to get train tickets to Chengdu as soon as we arrived at Xian. Realizing this, after eating breakfast, we went immediately back to the train station and got on the shortest line in sight. After waiting on that line for 30 minutes, we were almost at the ticket window. Just then, the ticket agent went on her morning break for 30 minutes. When she got back, she told us we were on the wrong line.

So...we waited on another line for 30 minutes. Just our luck, when we were almost at that window, the ticket agent went on his lunch break. We finally got to the front of the line, but were told there were no tickets left.

We finally did get a ticket through our hotel, which carried a commission of course. An eighteen hour ride, the train to Chengdu was certainly out of another era. No air conditioning, fans which blew sparks, rocky breaks, and thin beds with straps in order to keep you from flying out. It looked a bit like an outdated insane asylum. Aside from sweating our asses off, though, it was rather pleasant. The people on the train like to gab and all the Chinese people love when Joe speaks to them in Chinese. One of our bunkmates even brought us in a cab to our hostel.