Pictures just don’t ‘cut it’. Overwhelming. There are 4 pits but only 3 of them with figures. Pit 4 is empty because Emperor Qin died before it was filled. All the pits are huge (think multiple football fields) but Pit 1 is the biggest and the one that makes you just stand there and just go “Wow”. I took a movie of the Pit Number 1 but it still doesn’t help with the description. I still want to go back and see it again –anyone else wanna come to China before I leave? I guess it would be like trying to describe the ocean to someone who has never seen it before – You just gotta be there.
Just in case you can’t get to the Terra Cotta Warriors in your lifetime here are some of Margie’s history notes. We are so lucky that Margie took such good notes cause I had a hard time paying attention when there was so much to see.
Margie’s Notes –
As we approach the Terracotta Warriors our guide, Jeff, fills us in on some history. The Terracotta warriors were made during the Qin Dynasty. He became the emperor at 13 years of age and took over the throne at the age of 22. He ruled for 38 years and was credited for unifying China into one central government. He standardized: measures, weights and writing across the county. Emperor Qin also started the Great Wall and built roads and standardized axle sizes. This emperor was known as a very cruel man. He was famous for killing and persecuting intellectuals and burning books. He had anyone who he thought was smarter than he was executed!
His mausoleum was begun when he was 13 years old and contains over 8,000 life size terracotta warriors. It took over 700,000 laborers to complete the project. In 1974 there was an extreme drought in the area and 5 farmers attempted to dig a new well for water. It was these gentlemen that discovered this 8th wonder of the world. At first this was no big deal – actually the warrior heads were taken and used as scarecrows!
Prior to seeing Pit 1 (the finale of the day) we saw a ‘theater in the round’ movie that depicted the mass production of the warriors. There was one area that made just the feet, another area for the head, hands etc. Looks like Henry Ford was not the first to use idea of an assembly line.
On the way back to Xian we stopped for a tea museum/ tea ceremony and then had a 16 course dumpling dinner. We had planned on going inside the city walls to see the Drum and Bell tower at night but we were too stuffed and sleepy so our bus driver gave us a ride past those sites. At the hotel we packed and attemplted to cram some more stuff into our suitcases for the next leg of our trip. Shanghai!
