Xian - March 13, 2005

Terra Cotta Army, Pit 1

Xian ("shee-an") is a "small city" to the southwest of Beijing. It is not close, so to visit it for a day (as we did) you must fly down there. And why would you want to visit Xian, you may ask? According to my travel guide book, Xian either is or is near the seat of the ancient Zhou (pronounced "Chow") dynasty, is the start of the ancient "Silk Road", was the national capital for 11 dynasties, and today is the capital of the Shaanxi provence. It is most well-known, however, for the army of terra cotta warriors buried outside the city walls.

An emperor from the Qin (pronounced "Chin") dynasty created the army about 2000 years ago, amongst several other large building projects including the Great Wall. The army was interred within the walls of the emperor's mausoleum as his eternal guard. This eternal guard was re-discovered in 1974 when peasants were attempting to dig a new well.

Army warriors not yet excavated

A small group of us left Beijing early in the morning and caught our flight down to Xian. We were to meet our guide for the day, Jessica (I do not remember her Chinese name but I do remember that she was relatively young - probably in her 20's - and very tiny). The flight down took about an hour I believe, and the plane had a lot more room than the one we had been on from Los Angeles to Beijing.

This was also the day I also started to feel the effects of my illness and, eventually, I lost my voice sometime in the afternoon. Which was a bummer, as I know it did affect what I saw (and didn't see) and how much attention I paid and interest I showed.

View of Pit 1

After we arrived, we boarded our minibus for a 45 minute (or so) ride out to the museum. The folks in Xian have really created a nice museum - an actual museum with some statues and weaponry and other findings from the excavations, several buildings showing the current status of the excavation, a restaurant, a theater with a 360° screen, several gift shops, and a coffee shop. From the parking lot, it was about a 10-15 minute walk through a very nicely land-scaped park (which will look A LOT better once the weather warms up) to the museum. We had to go thru a security check (bags checked out) and a metal detector. And then lunch.

We ate at the restaurant. As I was not felling well, I just had the noodle soup. It was very good noodle soup - I watched them actually make the noodles. A bit spicy but that helped with my congestion so I was okay with that. So I had my noodle soup and sprite (yes, the have sprite and code and beer - those were our free drinks at lunch but only 1, any more than 1 and you paid extra).

Then off to the pits. I write that a bit sarcastically, as "the pits" are actually contained within three buildings and are where the excavations take place. There are 3 pits open to the public and they are named Pit 1, Pit 2, and Pit 3. If you have ever seen pictures of the terra cotta army on television or in books, chances are the pictures came from Pit 1. On this page, you will see pictures from Pit 1 (mainly) and one picture from Pit 3 (that would be the picture to the left of this paragraph). Our tour of the museum started in Pit 3.

Pit 3 housed warriors from the command and control portion of the army. It was small and didn't have many statues, and, unfortunately, most of my pictures of Pit 3 came out blurry. From Pit 3, we went on to Pit 2. According to Jessica, between Pit 3 and Pit 2 is another area that could be excavated but it is not open or they have not begun or something like that. (Like I said earlier, I was not feeling well so I don't really recall the exact reason.)

Pit 2 is a large pit with the least amount of excavation completed. Mostly it had a lot of mounds of dirt (which covered the warriors) which had been mapped out. I do recall that a lot of the statues I saw (and took pictures of) were in the building along with Pit 2; those pictures are further down on this page.

Pit 2 was also very poorly lighted. Of course, no excavation work was really happening here so that could explain why the lack of light. It was also cold but, then again, I was sick so who I am to say it was any colder than it should have been in March. (Normal temperatures for Xian at this time of year are in the 40 and 50 degree, fahrenheit, range.)

The actual museum was next. It contained a lot of artifacts found during the excavation, such as two chariots. The chariots, unlike the warriors, were not full size. Unfortunately, my pictures of either of them did not come out. Also in the museum were other items recovered and restored - weapons, armor, still more statues - you get the idea. I am sure it was all very interesting; I wish I had felt better and paid more attention.

After the museum, it was on to Pit 1. This is The Pit. A lot of excavation has occurred here and there are A LOT of warriors on display. The warriors were all in rows and columns, and not just warriors but animals such as horses and donkeys. Jessica gave us about 45 minutes to walk around the pit - the museum people have thoughtfully provided a walkway which encircles the pit and from which you can look down into the pit. You cannot get too close, however.

They say that each warrior has its/his(?) own distinct "look", ie hair, face, uniform, and so on. On this I would have to agree as I did not see any warriors that looked alike. Also, each warrior is "hollow". When they created the army, the baked the bodies in ovens without the heads, which were attached later. One of the hardest tasks today is to identify which heads go with which bodies as, sometimes, a warrior may be discovered missing his head (or other pieces).

At the back of the pit is kind of a staging area, where the museum personnel are repairing and putting back together warriors that have been excavated. Not just warriors, as the picture shows, but animals as well. How they know what piece goes where - it just seems like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Even though this is a pretty amazing thing, there is only so much you can see and take pictures of after a while - 45 minutes seemed a bit long to me. Not quite so cold as Pit 2, however, and much better lighting.

From Pit 1 we went over to theater. The theater was a round room with a eight screens arranged in a circle. There were no seats unless you chose to sit on the cold cement floor, which is what I did after a while, or lean against the rails in the center (very uncomfortable). Sometimes the movie showed the screens from a perspective of someone standing in the middle; you would see a view of what would be to your left or your right and so one. Sometimes it would show 8 different things completely - like a picture of snow and one of fire and one of the Great Wall. And sometimes, each screen had the same picture. I have never been in a theater such as this one before.

After the movie, we were essentially done with our museum trip. We still had the hike back to the bus, and some people did some shopping. Me, I drank a cup of very warm water Jessica obtained for me(feels very good on the sore throat) and went out and sat in the sun (the warmest spot available - all the buildings were colder than outside!).

Jessica did a bus tour of Xian that I missed. I decided to take a nap in the hopes of feeling better. Apparently, Xian is a very pretty town. It has a town wall and a lot of influences from Islam due to trading with the Middle East many centuries ago. The shopping, I heard, is also very nice. (I didn't see any of it.)