An Orange in the Middle Kingdom : Terracotta Warriors and Horses 兵马俑

After living in Xi'an for almost a year, we finally made it to the number one tourist site. The Terracotta Warriors is usually what we use to identify the city in which we live. Conversations usually go like this...

"Where do you live in China?"
"Xi'an."
"Ummm... where is that?"
"It's where the Terracotta Warriors are."
"Ohhhhhh! Right. Cool!"

You can guess that there was quite the crowd there, as we went in July with Yellow's brother visiting from France. We literally had to push our way through lots of pushy people in order to get some beautiful pictures to share with you. You're welcome.

Here's a close up of some of the soldiers.

So what is it? It's an army made out of terracotta. What's the big deal? Well, it has been placed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It's real name is actually the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Qin Shi Huangdi was the first emperor of China and had what's estimated to be 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses buried with him in order to protect himself in his afterlife. I'm sure he's really not excited that some of his army has been disturbed.

Most of these figures remain buried in their pits and the tomb of the emperor remains unopened, given concerns about preserving its artifacts. For example, after their excavation, the painted surface present on some terracotta figures began to flake and fade. The lacquer covering the paint can curl in fifteen seconds once exposed to Xi'an's dry air and can flake off in just four minutes. Work on the mausoleum began in 246 BC soon after Emperor Qin (then aged 13) ascended the throne. The project eventually involved 700,000 workers.

Most of the pits look something like this.

But others have been put together quite nicely.

We heard an funny story about a German student who posed as a Terracotta Warrior at the museum. Click here for an article about if you are curious.

Lots of famous people have been there of course. American presidents and their wives like Reagan, Clinton, and Michelle Obama (just last March!); French presidents Jacques Chirac and Sarkozy; British Queen Elizabeth II; and Russian Putin have all made stops here.