March 16 – Terracotta Warriors

Nihao from Shanghai! We sadly only had a day and a half in Xi’an, but we made the most of today day. Just east of Xi’an is the archeological site of the Qin dynasty terracotta warriors. Thousands of life like, larger than life soldiers were created 2,200 years ago to guard the tomb of the first Qin emperor. They lay hidden for thousands of years until some farmers digging a well discovered them. Now they are a national treasure, and archaeologists are slowly unearthing them. Before we went to see the actual warriors, we stopped in at a government sponsored fsctory/gift shop. This factory produces souvenir copies of the warriors, using the same clay from which the originals are made! You can buy a life size warrior of your very own and they’ll ship it home for you. Or you can just buy a small table top version.

After doing some shopping, we went to see the real thing. Our guide explained how to identify the different ranks of the soldiers. He explained that besides wearing his hair a certain way, and the clothes he wore, you could tell if a warrior was a general if he had a big belly! Then he proceeded to compare the general’s belly to Rob Munro’s! It’s no wonder though, as ALL of our bellies have expanded thanks to the feasts we receive at every meal! The warriors were incredibly impressive and a little eerie. You can see where some of them are just beginning to be excavated from the pit. Their expressions are very life like! From the warriors, we had to rush off to our last lunch in Xi’an. We dined at Qin Restaurant of Reallove, which served us food that people may have eaten during the Qin dynasty. After that it was off to thr airport to fly to Shanghai. A couple students almost left their laptop and camera behind as a “gift” to the security checkers, but all items were ultimately retrieved and we flew to Shanghai with no problems.

As we drove to dinner from the airport, the lights of Shanghai lit the night sky. It is a very cosmopolitan city with more of a western cibe thsn other Chinese cities. Our dinner was in a restaurant that looked distinctly European, although our hearty meal was Shanghai cuisine. We were also treated to a little stage show of music, opera and dance while we ate. Now everyone is settled into our really lovely hotel on the bund for the night, resting up for tomorrow’s adventures.