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Sunday, 19th September 1999
In and around Xi'an
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Our alarm call
was relatively civilised at 7:30 for
the 9:00am departure. We just had time
to look at the Chinese garden in the
centre of the hotel complex before heading
off. Nina taught us that the Chinese
for "good" was "hau hau";
for "not good, not bad" was
"ma ma hau hau" (horse horse
tiger tiger, apparently); and for excellent
was "hau hau hau!". More lessons
later. |
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Our first stop
was the great entrance gate to the
city, once the capital of China under
the Emperor Qin. Xi'an is the only
city in China with its city walls
complete. It is a perfect rectangle,
some 2,000 years old and massive:
30 foot high and 20 foot wide. From
this vantage point we could see that
the city was dotted with towers, pagodas
and ancient buildings. There are also
modern office blocks and high rise
flats, and we looked own on the traffic,
with apparently suicidal cyclists
dodging the cars and buses.
In the gate there was a shop, and
there we bought a pretty, delicate
painting on silk of some flowers
for about 200 yuan.
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The Small Wild Goose
Pagoda |
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Back to the coach, and on to the Ban Po neolithic
site. This was much more interesting than we feared.
Some 6,000 years old, one could see the outlines
of a village, with huts, cooking areas and communal
areas.
Then it was on to the statutory factory visit.
However, not much seemed to be made in this factory
- it was basically a shop, much to the horror
of most of the men in our group. We were shown
how they make reproduction terra cotta soldiers
(Bruce was tempted, but resisted), and how jade
was graded. Bruce could not resist temptation
this time and bought an inlaid globe with the
countries made from jade and other stones, which
he negotiated from 2,600 yuan to 1,350; and I
bought a dragon ball for Ugo reducing the price
from 600 to 300 yuan. We did see how carpets are
made from silk and were impressed with the artistry
and sheer patience of the girls making them. For
the finest carpet, it takes a year to make a carpet
measuring 3x4. We bought one for Berni and David
for 40 yuan on credit card, having exhausted our
ready cash. There was also a small collection
of water colours and I bought a little one for
5.
Chatted at length to Adrian, whose wife, Ros,
he says, has a spending disorder. Certainly, they
seemed to have acquired a lot today. Back to the
coach with our goodies. Somehow, Bruce and I seemed
to have acquired a reputation for shopping. I
could not think why.
We drove past the huge mausoleum where the Emperor
Qin is buried, past dozens of pomegranate vendors
with their brightly coloured fruit in beautiful
shades of magenta, and arrived at the farmer's
restaurant where we had an excellent meal including
toffee potatoes - which Lizzie tucked into with
gusto!
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Then on to the Terra
Cotta Warriors museum. We first went to
see the most-recently excavated treasure,
the bronze chariots. About tenth size, but
beautifully crafted, two horses each, one
pair drawing a war chariot, and the other
a covered wagon - presumably a guard and
the Emperor's carriage. Then we were shown
to the surround cinema for a film about
why and how the soldiers were made. The
acting was deliciously bad. |
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Finally, the warrior themselves. Nothing
could prepare us for the scale and detail
of the sight. Each face was different,
and there were hundreds and hundreds of
them, all in patient rows. We saw three
pits, the last of which was being excavated
and we could see two recently unearthed
soldiers with paint on them. Originally,
all the soldiers were painted in lifelike
colours. We spent three hours there, but
the time flew past.
As photographs were not permitted (the
image on the right is taken from a post
card), we decided to buy a book. At the
bookstall, there was one of the farmers,
Yang Jun Peng, who discovered the terra-cotta
warriors on his farm in 1974 whilst digging
a well! He signed our book, and shook
my hand whilst Bruce took a photo. Nina
referred to him as "our national
treasure"!
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We left, pursued
by the most persistent irritating vendors we had
met to date: dozens of boxes of miniature terra
cotta soldiers and postcards were thrust in our
faces. We tried to stride on, but our path was blocked.
I pushed a young hawker aside, and we made our escape,
but what was that noise I heard behind me - the
shattering of a box of soldiers and cries of anguish?
Oh dear, what a shame, never mind... |
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Back to the coach.
The roads were crowded with cyclists,
two of which had whole pigs slung over
the rear carrier. The pavements, too,
were bustling with people eating in
cafes, sitting on low stools playing
Chinese chess, or simply squatting on
their haunches, apparently perfectly
comfortable, by the roadside, smoking. |
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We got back to
the hotel by 5:30pm and Liz warned
us that tomorrow's alarm call would
be at 5:30am, as we would be setting
off early, in an attempt to catch
up with our schedule. She advised
us to pack that night. |
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We showered and
changed and got onto the coach to go to dinner.
We had a good meal, entertained by Nina who is fascinated
by the Royal Family and still admires Diana. Then
off to our evening optional trip - the Tang Dynasty
evening. Liz described it as "China meets Hollywood".
How apt. Chris' view was "it was so bad it
was good". When Nina asked us how we liked
it, we chorused, "Hau hau hau!", but Bruce
muttered, "Hau hau hau do they get away with
it?" It was about as Chinese as Pot Noodle. |
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