Xian, the west capital, was the first capital of China, during the Qin dynasty. Qin Shi Huang was the first leader to unify China. During his reign he defeated the other kingdoms, connected the various kingdom walls into the Great Wall, made Mandarin the language of China, developed unified units of measure for China and built his own burial chamber.
We come to Xian to visit his burial chambers. Seventy thousand slaves worked for the better part of two decades to create his final resting space. In previous ages, the concubines who did not give birth, slaves, musicians and a small army would be buried with the Emperor to protect him and make his time more enjoyable in the afterlife. Qin Shi Huang's general convinced him that the troops were still needed here on Earth to keep China unified and he would be protected equally well by ceramics of his troops in the afterlife. Today we visit the results of that decision, the Terra Cotta Warriors.
The entire burial area is the size of a small city. A peasant farmer discovered the site in the 1950’s. Five farmers digging a well found some fragments, for some reason they thought it might be Qin’s army. The brought it to officials who had the find tested. [For finding the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World, the farmers were given a letter of commendation and three days off from work. After a visit by President Chiric of France, the farmers were given jobs in the Museum as signers. One has the job to sign books bought by foreign tourists, another to sign books by Chinese tourists, a third, signs books for Chinese officials and the fourth signs for foreign VIP’s. The fifth farmer is dead. In addition, their families were also given free education.
When Marsha was here twelve years ago, there was only one pit of soldiers. Today there are three pits. Only a small percentage of the entire army area is excavated. What is excavated is mind blowing. Line upon line of bigger than life soldiers; archers, sitting and standing; lance men; Calvary with horses; officers and generals. Each image is different; each sculpture is a different soldier. Each sculpture is found in very many pieces, then reassembled by archaeologists and then placed in its appropriate spot. Looters caused the damage soon after the death of Qin's’s son.
In Xian we also visited the city wall and a pagoda. The city wall is the width of a three-lane highway. It is quite long and impressive.
I found the pagoda less interesting.
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