Terracotta Heartland

A sunny afternoon brought us to the dusty city of Xi'an, once a dynastic capital whose fortunes as a national seat of power had since moved inversely with those of Beijing. From the window of the airport bus transporting us to the city center, we watched rolling green, crop-filled fields slowly give way to smokestacked factories and charmless apartment complexes.

After disembarking near the distinctive and central Bell Tower, we navigated a maze of underground walkways before successfully hailing a cab to our hotel. Upon checking in, we were pleasantly surprised to find an American front office manager standing across from us. Although we have enjoyed meeting many warmhearted local denizens during our travels, we were somewhat relieved to have one conversation where we didn't have to worry about something getting lost in translation. We dropped our bags off at our plush $100/night suite and quickly made our way upstairs to enjoy the happy hour spread at the Club Lounge. After loading up on canapes and Diet Cokes, we were only too happy to skip eating dinner out for one night, and, instead, returned to our suite to relax.

We arose early the next morning to see Xian's most famous tourist destination in the form of 8,000 life-sized terracotta warriors. Built by the first Qin Emperor as an army to protect his soul's ascension into his next life, the Terracotta Army remained underground and undiscovered until 1974 when it was happened upon by local farmers drilling for water. We couldn't help smirking after seeing no fewer than three different little old men separately designated as the original discoverer of the site, each stationed in a different book store to sign copies of tourist books readily made available for sale. Nevertheless, the actual archeological site was something to behold.

We opted to head first to the on-site museum to see the bronze chariots on display. Deluged by Chinese tourists (we love the Chinese people, but they aren't exactly a patient, respectful bunch when organized into crowds or tour groups), we subsequently fled to Pit 2. Pit 2 was still in the process of being excavated and we found it quite surreal to consider that we were standing upon an active archaeological site. We saw a number of broken terracotta soldiers scattered throughout the pit, but were more fascinated by the scale of the project (housed in a building roughly the size of the Toronto Skydome). In Pit 2, we also learned that the process of chrome-plating objects to imbue them with greater strength -- commonly thought to be developed by the Americans or British in the 20th century -- was actually implemented by Chinese weapons forgers roughly 2,000 years ago.

Pit 1, however, was the piece de resistance of the complex. As the largest of the three pits with the greatest concentration of discoveries, it was in a class of its own in terms of grandeur. In a closed arena roughly twice as long as Texas Stadium stood endless terracotta soldiers aligned in strict military formation below ground level. Until we walked into the excavation site, the scope of the Terracotta Warriors was difficult for us to comprehend. Hundreds upon hundreds of statues of cavalry, infantry and militia gathered as far as the eye could see made us pause in awe. Even more stunning was the artisanship and attention to detail in the faces of the statues and in the attendant uniforms depicting military rank. Every face was uniquely fashioned and every set of hands perfectly chiseled to bear arms.

Our visit concluded with stops at the much smaller Pit 3 and an amphitheater boasting a cheesy, 360-degree motion picture reenactment of the creation of the Terracotta Army.

Afterwards, we headed back towards Xi'an proper, stopping along the way at the Banpo Museum, a Neolithic settlement dating back to about 4,000 BC. While interesting in theory, the museum's dearth of English signage and a tasteless reenactmment of an ancient village area (closer to a Flintstones-esque rest area than a bona fide anthropological site) left a bad taste in our mouths. Kaberi was especially disappointed as the Banpo settlements had been based on matriarchial lineage, and she had been keen to learn more about that unique organizing principle (her hardline and chauvinist patriarchal sentiments notwitstanding).

Xi'an managed to redeem itself with the Dacien Si temples and the Big Goose Pagoda. Built in 652 AD during the Tang Dynasty, the 7-story pagoda is 64 meters tall and offers fantastic views of the city from all sides. We especially enjoyed strolling through the gardens of the Dacien Si temple complex and appreciated the meticulously-landscaped gardens with singing birds in bamboo cages. It was a full day by the time we returned to our hotel for yet another round of free hors d'ourves and red wine at the Club Lounge. To this point, our Chinese travels had give us little to complain about.