I’ve been looking forward to today thru all the months of planning - finally, the Terracotta Warriors! I’ve seen them in movies and documentaries but seeing them with my own eyes was amazing.
The warriors were built for Qin Shi Huang, who became king of Qin at 13 in 246 BC. After conquering the other six warring states in 221 BC, he became China's first emperor! They estimate it took 700,000 laborers to build this amazing project. They believe the army was meant to guard him in the afterlife. There are three main pits - about 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, and 670 horses - and no two images are alike!
In 206 BC, rebels looted the pits, took the weapons, and burned the wooden roofs. The ceilings collapsed and crushed the figures, and the site was buried and forgotten for over 2,000 years. In 1974 the site was discovered by a farmer building a well and excavation has been going on ever since. The actual tomb has been discovered but China, to their credit, has held off opening it until preservation technology improves.
I then went to Huaqing Palace. A beautiful place that again was built over 3000 years ago. It is surrounded by hot springs and they built the palace to relax at. I saw another outdoor show - Song of Everlasting Sorrows - phenomenal. True love story of an emperor in 750 AD and a woman. Long story short - the guards felt she brought bad luck to the kingdom, demanded her killed, and so she was. It depicted their affair, their love, her death and his grief and eventual reuniting when he died as an old man. Very moving.
October 28 in China
Love this!!! [Barbara Carl]
Christie MitchellIt was pretty incredible!