Terracotta Army

Saturday, Aug. 30, was a big day. We drove a little ways east from XiAn to see the Terracotta Army. It was ordered built by the first Chinese emperor in about 210 BC. He was the first one to conquer several neighboring kings to form an empire. He also had some of the walls of the northern kingdoms connected to begin what was to become the Great Wall.

First we stopped at a local factory that makes terracotta souvenirs. They make reproductions of the soldiers at all sizes from very small to lifesize. They use clay from the same area as the original army. First the wet clay is placed into a mold. In the picture you can see a few of the small molds which are the white rectangles. The lifesized ones require a mold of several pieces. The heads on the lifesized ones are made separately. Next in the process, excess clay is trimmed off. It is then allowed to air dry. Finally they are baked. The smallest ones are baked for about a day. The lifesized ones take a lot longer. They require multiple bakings. After each time, any cracks are repaired and then the figure is rebaked. The process is repeated until no more cracks appear.

Next we went to the sight of the actually warriors. There are three different pits on the sight, each is where the soldiers were originally placed and found. The main pit is the largest and has mostly infantrymen and chariots. The chariots were made of wood so they did not last. The only thing left of them were horses and charioteers.

Like a lot of early rulers, the first emperor wanted this clay army to serve him in the afterlife. It is buried a little ways from his tomb. (His tomb has never been opened.) This army was stored in an underground bunker. A later emperor who disliked the first emperor's family sent his real life soldiers into the bunkers to destroy the terracotta warriors and burn the bunkers. After a while the location was forgotten. In the 1970's some local farmers were digging a well and came across pieces of the soldiers and reported the find to the authorities. Three of the four farmers are still alive and frequently visit the museum to autograph photo books. We saw one of them during our visit. Because all the warriors were broken, they are carefully being pieced back together like an enormous jigsaw puzzle.

Shortly after the accidental discovery of pit 1, scientist located pits 2 and 3. Pit 2 contains archers and cavalry. Pit 3 is much smaller and contains generals and other officers. It is sort of a war room for the terracotta army.

Near the same area they also found two bronze chariots that were half lifesized. They carefully put them back together and display them in anther building on site.

After seeing the Terracotta Army, we visited the HuaQing hot springs a short distance away. Baths were built in this location by another emperor at about 757 AD. He would visit them in the winter with his favorite concubine. The picture shows the crab-apple flower bath. It is also know as the concubine bath because this is were she bathed. There are four other baths in this complex. Unfortunately the hot springs are slowly drying up so there is no water left in some of the baths.

We finished the day with the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show. It had traditional music and dancing from that era. It was very interesting and enjoyable although it made for a long day.