Xi'an, China

We knew we were in another city the minute we stepped off the plane in Xi'an because of the air quality. Driving from the airport, our tour guide explained that the rural farming areas stirred

up dust for the city, although Brian had his suspicions it was a smidge of smog as well.

Another thing our tour guide pointed out immediately is that men in Xi'an have a bad habit (her judgment, not mine) of squatting rather than sitting to take a load off. We knew Sydney would fit right in, since she's been striking this pose most of her toddler life. Although the men in Xi'an don't seem to make the same hand gestures. (And no, she's not pooping.)

Before visiting Xi'an, I had thought Europeans were the only smart ones when it comes to break time, but it turns out people in Xi'an also have the right idea; they take 2-hour lunches, closing up shop to allow time for a catnap. Maybe the U.S. is too "developed." In any case, we only spent one day in Xi'an, but it was a highlight of our China trip as well.

Terra Cotta Warriors

In particular, the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi'an were a close second to the Great Wall, our favorite sight in China. These life-size clay soldiers were only recently unearthed, in 1974 by mistake actually, when some farmers were digging a well. They are part of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of all of China, and were created between 211 and 206 B.C. (Incidentally, B.C. is "Before Century" per Chinese people, who don't believe in "Before Christ." Not sure what they interpret A.D to mean, but I venture to guess it doesn't involve the word "Domini"...)

The sheer number of these soldiers, along with their wooden carriages and clay horses, is awesome. Altogether over 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons have been unearthed from three separate pits. They were tagged according to their discovery. Pit 1 has the largest collection of figures (see photo to the left). Pit 2 is located 20 meters from Pit 1 and contains over 1,000 soldiers and 90 chariots of wood. Pit 3 is the smallest, but appears to be the command center of the military forces, with 68 soldiers, a war chariot and 4 horses (see photo to the right).

Most of the statues have been restored, as they were largely found in pieces. Interestingly, the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is located some 1.5 km away from any of these pits, which suggests these findings may be the "tip of the iceberg" and there may be many more artifacts closer to the actual tomb of the Emperor. They are still digging to find out.

It was profound to me that any one man could think so highly of himself to 1) declare himself the first Emperor of China, and 2) command that his people go to such great efforts to construct this excessive amount of fabulous clay sculpture only for it to be buried underground for no one to enjoy. And it is almost incredible that he (they) believed at that time that he needed to take his terra cotta warriors with him when he died, since we believe "you can't take it with you"!

In this photo, Brian makes Sydney "try on" the armor of a terra cotta warrior and--shocker--she's not too happy about it.

Banpo Neolithic Museum

If you think it is amazing to be standing at a site that is over 2000 years old, then you will also be impressed that we stood at the remains of a civilization over 6,000 years old. Also in Xi'an, we visited the Banpo Neolithic Village Museum, which is a museum literally built over the archeological findings of a village over 6,000 years old.

This was a typical Neolithic matriarchal community of the Yangshao culture, where women were the main laborers. The Banpo people used tools made of wood and stone and the women were responsible for pottery, spinning, and raising the family, while the men merely fished. Sounds like leisure activity to me. But then again, most men today thinking being a "stay-at-home mom" is leisure activity, and I know otherwise.

The museum's exhibition halls showcase many of the tools and pottery used during this time, including a clay steamer shown in this photo. The site hall is about 3,000 square meters and contains residential, pottery making and burial sections. The residential section is the main part of the site, including the huts, kilns and tombs of the primitive residents. The photo below shows the remains of one of the huts. Built a foot or so into the ground, there were posts in the holes and the outside was made of thatch covered with clay and shaped like a teepee (for lack of a better word to describe it).

There are many bodily remains displayed among the archeological findings, but perhaps the saddest thing you see are two pottery jars pot together to form the burial tomb of infants. You definitely get a sense of the hardships such primitive people had to endure while building a civilization. But it was very interesting to see the remnants of a hut and know that someone was living on this same piece of earth more than 6,000 years ago. You really have to go to China to be a part of such ancient history.

The Great Mosque

The Great Mosque at Hua Jue is the largest in Xi'an and it is one of the earliest mosques built on a relatively large scale. It is also one of the most well-preserved mosques in China. The mosque is said to have been built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD). However, the architectural style of the mosque suggests a possible building dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1386-1644AD), maybe because renovations were done then.

Unlike most mosques in Middle Eastern or Arab countries, the Great Mosque of Xi'an is completely Chinese in its construction and architectural style, except for some Arabic lettering and decorations, for the mosque has neither domes nor minarets. Muslims in China do, however, share very much the same customs with their fellow believers elsewhere in the world. They worship five times a day: at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, at dusk, and at night. There is a clock on the temple wall showing the five times (relative to Mecca) a day to pray, which changes throughout the year.

Here, too, people stopped to admire Sydney and snap photos. Brian thought turnabout is fair play, so he literally turned around to snap a photo of these Muslims. The photographer's not quite sure why Brian is taking their picture, nor am I...but it was kind of funny anyway.

We're on to our third and final city next: Shanghai. And then I'll make some random comments, including Chinese arts and crafts and a final soliloquy with more general insight into travel in China. Sick of hearing about China yet???