Terracotta Ambitions

These are photos on the road into Xi'an and in the city...I was talking about from the previous posting.

So last night we went to the Shaanxi Grand Opera House to have an 18 course Chinese dumpling dinner and then watch the show. We had appetizers first. Yeah, that transparent foreign object in my chopsticks happens to be jellyfish. One might ask how it tastes? Just fine, but a little on the chewy side.

We ate more variety of steamed dumplings than I knew existed, from the (what I consider normal) shrimp and pork dumplings to the more bizarre like pickled cabbage, squid, and abalone filled dumplings. Can you guess which one is filled with duck? The dinner was completed with a dumpling soup. They brought it out and put it on fire at our table. Fun stuff if you’re a pyro. I know some of you are laughing right now because I took a lot of pictures of dinner, but you know me! ;)

The show was amazing! So colorful and all sorts of old Chinese instruments used; the dancing was beautiful too. It was too cool! It told a story from the Tang Dynasty but I couldn't understand it, the singing was in Chinese. It doesn't matter that you don't understand the language, it is still very beautiful.

Today we started out with a tour of a jade carving factory. We are all now experts on the quality of jade. Jade is a gem that can only be found in the mountains and riverbeds of China; the mountains of Xi'an has the largest amount of jade. You base quality similarly to that of diamonds: color of the rock, hardness of the rock, and transparency of the rock. They had some beautiful carvings, all of which were way out of my price range, but pretty to look at. Grandma bought Sarah and me jade necklaces. It is custom for grandmothers and mothers to buy jade for their children or grandchildren.

Next stop, the eighth wonder of the world, Terracotta Soldiers…it was amazing! Pictures don’t do this place justice. Here’s the quick story on the terracotta soldiers. So back in 1974, some farmers were digging a well when they accidentally discovered these broken pieces terra-cotta statue. They called the government, who sent out some archeologists and after some more digging, they realized they had found something pretty special. Remember that emperor who unified China and connected the Great Wall? Qin Shi Huangdi was his name. Apparently he took the throne when he was 13 years old and ordered that preparations for his tomb be made when he was 14 yrs old. Around four decades later the labor force of 700,000 people completed this tomb. The afterlife was very important and he wanted it protected so he had a terracotta army built and buried a mile away to protect his tomb. The army included infantry, archers, cavalry, and charioteers. He was considered a very brutal leader by forcing so many Chinese men to labor in building projects like the Great Wall and his tomb. He also had high taxes for his people to fund all the construction. After his death, there was a peasant farmer uprising. They broke in and destroyed the terracotta soldiers and burned the place down, causing the ceiling to cave in and the site was forgotten for over 2000 years. Archeologists are still working to piece together the soldiers, but it is a job that will take some serious time to accomplish.

We also went to a teahouse today. Preparing tea is an art. My favorite was the Lychee Black Tea. Yum! Spring is beautiful here in Xi'an, all the trees are in bloom.