WENDY: An English teacher who spent a year at Battle Ground High School in 2006-2007
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| Dear, sweet Wendy took us to a traditional dumpling lunch. |
Click here to see Paula ring the bell.
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| Downtown Xi'an |
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| Traditional instruments being played in the top of the city center's Bell Tower |
Click here to see a bit of the music show.
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| It was wonderful to see Wendy again! |
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| Attending another music show, inside the South Gate of the City Wall that was built during the Ming Dynasty, in 1370 |
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| These drummers made the sounds of the horses...... |
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| Wendy's city is the site of the famous Terracotta Warriors |
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| We rented bicycles and rode them the 14 kilometers around the top of the Old City Wall. |
Click here to watch us ride the bicycles!
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| When we were about half-way around the top-of-the-wall, the lights of the guard towers came on....... |
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| Off to see the Terracotta Warriors |
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| This factory makes replicas. |
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| Terracotta Warriors and Horses of pit #1 |
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| The first (and only) Qin Dynasty Emperor had artisans work for 40 years to mold, fire, and create (each with a different face) this army and its horses. They were buried in pits underground, after being covered by wooden beams and then soil. Farmers drilling a well discovered fragments in 1974, and excavation began. |
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| Pit # 1 is covered by a building the size of an aircraft hanger, and contains 6,000 warriors and horses, in battle formation. The emperor apparently thought that he would continue his brutal rule, even in the afterlife. |
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| Most of the relics are actually piles of pieces when found (destroyed by angry, conquered soldiers), and so artisans and archaeologists spend years piecing them back together! They were originally colorful, but, upon contact with the air, have become gray. |
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| Another pit |
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| The soldiers and horses are life-sized, and have cool details, like fancy top-knots and braided patterns in their hair. |
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| The Qin Emperor who had all this built had "unified China" by conquering and murdering lots of people. He also standardized language and money. He buried many Confucian scholars alive, and burned thousands of books. He had a mausoleum built for himself, and filled it with precious stones, "rivers of mercury", and booby-traps to prevent entry. This tomb took 38 years to build, and, in the end, 700,000 artisans were buried alive there so that the secrets of the place stayed within! The HUGE mound of his tomb is considered too dangerous to excavate. |
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| Bronze Chariot and Horses, also found. |
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