Day 7 - The Terracotta Warriors

We left the hotel at 9am to drive about 40 minutes out of Xi’an to see one of the 20th century’s greatest archeological finds, the Terracotta Warriors.

It’s difficult to appreciate the scale of the find - all the warriors are unique, detailed, life sized replicas of different military ranks, disciplines and even ethnicities, arranged in rank upon rank. The horses with their chariot riders behind them (their clay hands still curled around harnesses that have long since rotted away), the archers clutching vanished crossbows, the generals holding their missing staffs.

We slowly walked around the huge pit 1 - this was the first pit discovered in 1974 by 3 farmers who found clay shards while digging a well; (the farmers are still alive and are local celebrities, apparently!) - whilst it was very crowded, most people were considerate and we could work our way to the front to better admire the detailed figures.

The warriors were built and buried over 2,000 years ago, to protect the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife. The Qin dynasty succeeded in unifying the Chinese Empire for the first time during their brief and tyrannical reign, and began the construction of the Great Wall.

From pit 1 we moved on to pits 2 and 3 - the site is a working dig and these pits are works in progress. We saw how the warriors were found in broken pieces, and how they are then painstakingly reconstructed. Some fine examples were displayed behind glass: the kneeling archer (famous for being the only figure retrieved from the pits intact, probably because of his kneeling position), a standing archer, and a very impressive General. On some you could see traces of the original paint; every warrior would have been brightly painted when buried.

As we moved through the exhibits, the scale of the entire mausoleum became clear: the terracotta warriors were only a small part of the burial - Emporer Qin had constructed and buried an entire palace for his afterlife (he had started the project soon after coming to power), including buildings, entertainment and bronze animals and pets. It took 700,000 labourers (not slaves) over 39 years to complete.

Exiting the pits, we were tickled to walk through a great number of souvenir and food stalls. We Brits are more used to an ‘exit through the gift shop and on your way mate’ type experience - however it seemed like a small town had sprung up here, with ranks of stalls, with many selling the same pomegranate juice and souvenirs!

After a quick comfort break we visited another museum featuring a more recent discovery, 2 reconstructed bronze chariots, with their clay horses, which had been built at half scale and buried at the same time. Whilst this was all very splendid, we were at information overload after the past few days, and were rather grateful for a nap in the car on the way back to Xi’an.

No rest for us though - we were dropped off with Ella, our guide, for our cookery lesson and meal with a Chinese family. They lived on the 4th floor of one of the numerous tower blocks, and after our introduction we learned how to fill and fold Chinese dumplings, and how to stretch noodles - Phil won’t be giving up the day job any time soon!

After a delicious meal (and beer for both!) we returned to our hotel intending to relax. However seeing the bright lights of the city and Bell Tower on the drive back, Phil persuaded Catherine to take a quick walk out for our last evening in Xi’an - it was worth it to see the Bell Tower illuminated at night - it is clearly an iconic Chinese landmark, as there were many YouTubers and photographers surrounding it.Read more