The anticipated Xi'an

After an extremely late night flight, we arrived in Xi'an, ready for about 3 hours of sleep, before we began the Xi'an blur. We were lucky to have a tour guide for the two days of our stay, so our schedule remained structured, and we were able to see and be informed about some of the highlights of Xi'an.

Our first day began with the City wall of Xi'an which raps around the old city.

Xi'an's history dates back 3,000 years ago. At that time, the wall surrounded the city. The more modern Xi'an has expanded and grown, so the wall now really just goes right through the city.

That morning when we got to the wall, we all paid 20 yuan (about $3) and rented bicycles to ride the 14 kilometers (9 mile) long wall. It was completely flat making for an easy and fun ride.

The afternoon of that same day, we were off to see the Bingma yong, the legendary Terracotta warriors, and the landmark I've anticipated most on this trip.

We first went to the Terracotta warrior factory, where we were able to see not only the making of full size replicas of the real soldiers, but also the process showing the exact way these soldiers were made thousands of years ago for Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. This was all part of the Qin Dynasty tomb.

There are estimated to be about 8,000 clay warriors buried with this emperor. These were found along with the bones of approximately 3,000 real people buried with the emperor as well. All of this was discovered by a few farmers working their fields only about 40 years ago in 1974, totally unsuspecting of “the Eighth World Wonder” below them. There were 3 pits in the Terracotta museum, but we learned that there were many more that remained uncovered. These other uncovered pits are intentionally kept hidden, to both preserve their beauty, and to protect them.

The physical danger of uncovering them is serious. Along with thousands of clay soldiers, chariots, and horses, there were also real people, like officials, musicians and more. The Emperor also wanted to bury "rivers of gold" in his tomb. To do so, tons and tons of concentrated mercury was buried with him. If the warriors are uncovered, this huge well of dangerous mercury would also be uncovered, which could have serious effects on the entire city of Xi'an and potentially the greater area.

I found this entire Terracotta experience more than fascinating.