XI'AN - TERRACOTTA WARIORS AND MORE
XI'AN - TERRACOTTA WARIORS AND MORE
It was during my first year teaching English at a private high school in the Zhengzhou area of China, and during that year the school took the foreign teachers on weekend trips to various ancient heritage sites, one of which was the ancient City of Xi'an, a city that had served as the imperial capital for ten ancient imperial dynasties and a number of regional kingdoms.
The Terracotta Army was created by China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang , who began the construction of the army in 246 BC after he (then aged 13) ascended the throne. It was an afterlife army for Emperor Qin. It was believed that objects like statues can be animated in the afterlife.
LINK -> www.chinahighlights.com/xian/terracotta-army/terra-cotta-warriors-facts.htm
1. The traders from the west travelled along The Silk Road to Xi'an (the Wild Goose Pagoda)
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2. The Wild Goose Pagoda (in the mist)
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3. First of all we must pass through the Great Wall of Xi'an.
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4. The streets of Xi'an (1)
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5. The streets of Xi'an (2)
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6. The Terracotta Warriors, a/k/a The Terracotta Army
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7. Horses as well
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7 (a). Ooops, missed posting this sign.
8. As there are in other ancient Chinese cities, there are two towers. The first being The Drum Tower
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9. Buzz the wannabe musician
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10. Inside The Drum Tower, a drum museum
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11. Could this be called a "barrel drum"?
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12. The other tower, The Bell Tower. I didn't try to ring it.
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13. Inside, works of art - 3-dimensional sculpted paintings
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14. Another
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15. Apparently this is considered a form of ceramic art.
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16. The artist himself.
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16 (a). Ooops. I forgot to post his masterpiece.
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17. Shadow puppets - a traditional entertainment, sort of like a puppet show. Actually I saw a shadow puppet show many years ago put on at the Beers Family Fox Hollow Festival, but of course the puppets were Americana, not Chinese.
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18. An explanation of the Shadow Puppets
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19. An artistic door that depicts history
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20. The label on the door
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Except for the Silk Road map and the photo of me banging the drum *not softly", all photos were taken by me. Hope you enjoyed the tour.
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You don't have to go to China. I will try to bring China to you, but in order for the tours to be seen by most of the NT members in order to keep it on the page for more than a day or two it would be appreciated if you would vote the article up and if you could, post a short comment.
Great photos. Xi'an was a very interesting city.
Here are a few of mine.
Terra Cotta Army of Qin Shi Huang - Founder of the Qin Dynasty and the First Emperor of China
The Kneeling Archer
Middle Ranking Terra Cotta Officer
A Highest Ranking General
Soldier of the Army
Bronze Emperor's Chariot
Bronze Chariot
Muslim Street
Muslim Street - Pounding Bread
Muslim Street Food Stall
Pagoda Interior
(All images © G. Gam)
Thank you GG. We finally got to do what we planned years ago. You got to see a lot of things that I didn't. Please post your photo of the Wild Goose Pagoda - it was much clearer than mine.
I just found a couple of explanatory plaques about the Drum Tower and Bell Tower that were omitted from my article.
Wild Goose Pagoda (© G. Gam)
View of Xi'an from the Bell Tower (© G. Gam)
LOL. We definitely liked that view, didn't we. Here is my photo of it.
The Terra Cotta Warriors are a wonder of the world. Few thing compare to them in any medium.
LNK -> Terracotta Army Discovery: When, Where &Who Found, How Did They Find
These too ... we saw these in Japan:
Just amazing. Each one of these were different in some way.
Seems that in ancient times Asians had similar thoughts.
Ancients in general had some very interesting notions about 'afterlife' and all sorts of (desperate?) measures taken in preparation for same.
The temple in the photo you posted, Sanjusangendo, was next door to our hotel in Kyoto. It was an amazing place. There was a sign posted that photography was not allowed inside the temple. I imagine they gave permission for commercial purposes.
Yes, and we were strictly instructed to not take any pictures so we have to rely upon what we can find on the Web (and the brochure).
According to your link, this was actually the army, the image you posted was of Guardian Deities.
My wife and I have visited quite a few countries, while following France's national basketball teams - highbrow and lowbrow! In 2003 we visited China. Excellent trip.
Here are a few of the many photos I took.
Come on Bob, I knew when you sent me your photos of the Li River Cruise through the Karst Mountains that your photos were much better than mine. I have a story about the Stone Boat but first let's explain it for our readers:
I shot that trip with my first digital camera, a Sony 3 megapixel. I've "upgraded" a couple of times since, but I think that old Sony was magic.
We were in Beijing in December. The lake around the boat was frozen thick enough that pedestrians were all over it. COLD!
Would love to see the Terracotta army. Just amazing and there's supposedly still lots of digging to be done (they still haven't found or opened the emperors tomb)
That's right. It's still an ongoing process, and I'm sure there\s a lot there now that I would not have been able to see when I was there 18 years ago.