Xi'an was the first major metropolitan city in China that we visited on our tour. Xi'an is literally translated to "Western Peace" and was the ancient capital of China in the 14th century. The city is surrounded by a 14km wall that was built during the Ming Dynasty to protect the center city. Sarah, Holly, Charlie, and I rented bicycles and rode around the entire perimeter of the wall which took us nearly 2 hours. The views were incredible, the weather was perfectly brisk, we were able to see the entire city from every direction. Great time on the bikes. We also went to the 64m high Wild Goose Pagoda which was built in 652 to store the translations of Buddhist sutras obtained from India. It was surrounded by beautiful gardens and statues and we just walked around and hung out there for hours.
Lillian walked us through the city and showed us some cool markets where we could buy silk and traditional paintings. We ate Xi'an's traditional duck dish but passed on the "smelly tofu"which is exactly what it sounds like - street market fried tofu that smells so disgusting I cannot imagine being so accustomed to it that I would ever want to eat it myself. Lillian said it is an acquired taste, her grandmother loves it but she thinks it is terrible. One night we also went to a popular dumpling restaurant and got to try the traditional steamed veggie and crab dumplings, delicious. During our few days in the city we also saw the famous Bell and Drum Towers at the North end of Xi'an. We went to the top of each and also saw performances inside - appropriately enough, the Bell Tower was a 10 minute performance using all different sorts bells, while the drum tower used different types of drums. We preferred the Drum Tower performance, very impressive.
The main attraction of Xi'an lies about an hour and a half outside of the center: the Terracotta Warriors. In 1974 farmers were digging near the sight and uncovered the massive tomb of QinShi Huangdi who ruled from 259 - 210 B.C. He was the first emperor to unify China's divided territories into one nation and he also standardized its written language. Emperor Qin was very concerned about the afterlife and wanted to be protected so he demanded that an "army"of soldiers to guard him into the next life. When Qin was only 14, construction began and took 700,000 workers to complete. Skilled craftsmen used terracotta to sculpt over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, and nearly 700 horses, all of which are life-size. Imagine being one of the farmers who uncovered a massive life-like terracotta soldier in his field.
The army was placed in lines surrounding Qin's tomb. Today the army remains in excellent condition despite some destruction by peasants, and the excavation process is continuing. Only a portion of the entire site has been uncovered as to protect the warriors that are still buried. The army is currently housed in 4 massive warehouses, called Pits, that could easily fit a Boeing 747. I could not believe how many there were and how life-like their features looked. I was extremely impressed at how careful and meticulous the excavation process is, the archaeologists are even working to restore the original colors. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors is definitely a highlight of Xi'an.
Lillian walked us through the city and showed us some cool markets where we could buy silk and traditional paintings. We ate Xi'an's traditional duck dish but passed on the "smelly tofu"which is exactly what it sounds like - street market fried tofu that smells so disgusting I cannot imagine being so accustomed to it that I would ever want to eat it myself. Lillian said it is an acquired taste, her grandmother loves it but she thinks it is terrible. One night we also went to a popular dumpling restaurant and got to try the traditional steamed veggie and crab dumplings, delicious. During our few days in the city we also saw the famous Bell and Drum Towers at the North end of Xi'an. We went to the top of each and also saw performances inside - appropriately enough, the Bell Tower was a 10 minute performance using all different sorts bells, while the drum tower used different types of drums. We preferred the Drum Tower performance, very impressive.
The main attraction of Xi'an lies about an hour and a half outside of the center: the Terracotta Warriors. In 1974 farmers were digging near the sight and uncovered the massive tomb of QinShi Huangdi who ruled from 259 - 210 B.C. He was the first emperor to unify China's divided territories into one nation and he also standardized its written language. Emperor Qin was very concerned about the afterlife and wanted to be protected so he demanded that an "army"of soldiers to guard him into the next life. When Qin was only 14, construction began and took 700,000 workers to complete. Skilled craftsmen used terracotta to sculpt over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, and nearly 700 horses, all of which are life-size. Imagine being one of the farmers who uncovered a massive life-like terracotta soldier in his field. 
The army was placed in lines surrounding Qin's tomb. Today the army remains in excellent condition despite some destruction by peasants, and the excavation process is continuing. Only a portion of the entire site has been uncovered as to protect the warriors that are still buried. The army is currently housed in 4 massive warehouses, called Pits, that could easily fit a Boeing 747. I could not believe how many there were and how life-like their features looked. I was extremely impressed at how careful and meticulous the excavation process is, the archaeologists are even working to restore the original colors. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors is definitely a highlight of Xi'an.
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