By Justin and Charlie
At 7:30 am, we were greeted with a charming (piercing) wake-up call. For those brave souls willing to attend the gym, they were woken at an ungodly 6:30 am; however, the majority of us, recovering from our previous adventures, preferred to stay the extra hour in our plush beds. Nevertheless, at 8:00 am, we ambled out of bed and made our way down to the breakfast buffet. Soon after, we boarded our bus and headed off to the Terracotta Warriors!
During the 90-minute-long bus trip, Charles brought us up to speed on the history of China, as well as some of its dynasties. First came the Qin Dynasty. After hundreds of years of civil conflict, King Qin (of the state Qin), managed to finally conquer the whole of China and its many conflicting armies, finally unifying it. This dynasty didn’t last long due to the Emperor Qin’s expensive tastes. He began building The Great Wall, an Underground Palace (equivalent to the size of his real-life palace) and the Terracotta Army simultaneously, and at breakneck speed. These gargantuan projects were his undoing due to the poor, sometimes lethal conditions that the commoners were forced to live and work in, causing them to aggressively rebel. Following the downfall of the Qin Dynasty, the nation fell back into warring factions, until the Liu army eventually emerged supreme sparking the birth of the Han Dynasty, remembered as one of China’s most famous eras. After 400 years of the Han reign, China once again fell into disarray. Next came the Tang Dynasty, known as another one of China’s longest lasting dynasty, as well as the most ‘splendid’. Beauty standards were one of the major changes occurring during this dynasty, partly due to the introduction of the Silk Road. The open-minded nature of the Tang rulers meant China was easily influenced by new customs and religions arriving from the Silk Road. Gone were the days of foot-binding and in came clothing and beauty standards that were far more modern. We were all surprised at the richness and complexity of Chinese history, something that we had never really seen before. After our brief bus history lesson, we arrived at the site of the Terracotta Warriors.
Stepping from the cramped bus into the open, chilly air was refreshing. The tourist-swamped site was extremely sparse, spanning multiple acres and many individual buildings – reaching the actual pits required walking down long lengths of paths and going through security checks. Once we entered the Terracotta complex, we first visited the building housing the Bronze Chariots. These would have been ludicrously expensive at the time of creation but they didn’t look as we expected; they were not quite life-size but were still an impressive display of craftsmanship, especially for something over 2000 years old. After visiting these chariots, we thought we would see our first actual warriors. We were wrong. As we ventured into Pit 2, the second largest of the excavated areas, all we saw were pottery fragments. It turns out that the locals were so fearful of existing in an Emperor Qin-ruled afterlife that they collapsed the support beams keeping the tomb open, annihilating all the warriors underneath 8 metres of dirt. For us, this added to our understanding of the large emphasis placed on the afterlife during historic times; to Emperor Qin, his life after death was important enough to construct a full army of warriors, weapons, horses and all. Our next stop after Pit 2 was Pit 3, or the command centre. Most noticeable in this pit was the absence of weapons. The Emperor was paranoid that one of his commanders or generals would attempt to undermine him, resulting in him ordering that these warriors not be given weapons. Another strange, but amusing anomaly was the number of warriors without heads. We still don’t know why but we suspect that the warriors’ heads were irreparably damaged by the 2200 years they had spent underground. Our final stop for the day, and arguably what had been on our minds from the beginning of the trip, was the most iconic destination in the complex: Pit 1. Pit 1 contained the majority of the warriors – over 2000 – and they were all noticeably unique, boasting many different stances, weapons and expressions. The tomb was encased in dome-like metal structure and covered the area of 2 soccer fields, although this hardly does justice to its true scale. Stepping into its brisk atmosphere, we were finally hit with the realisation of just how large a project this pit was: so cavernous that the back wall was hardly visible. Trying to comprehend how this project was accomplished 2000 years ago was staggering and still impressive today.
After our Terracotta Warrior experience, we headed off to have lunch in one of the local restaurants. Some of the foods we saw today we hadn’t seen before, like the sweet chicken and the peppery duck. We left with full bellies and headed to the train station, preparing to board our 15-hour overnight train. The train station in Xi’an was significantly less modern than that in Chengdu with fewer platforms and shops. After getting through the security checks, we stocked up on snacks and then boarded our train. We quickly found our way to our designated 4-bed compartments and stowed away our suitcases. The rooms, the perfect smallness to be comfortable but not claustrophobic, prompting us to interact with new people and were the perfect place for conversation. After a warming packaged meal of chicken rice, we resigned to our bunks and settled in for the night.
Justin
To Mum, Dad, Katrina, Roxy and the fish. Words can’t explain how privileged I feel to be on this trip, and how grateful I am that you have given the opportunity, so I’ll try to express it to you when I get back. Seriously, I would say that I can’t wait to get back, but I really never want this trip to end. Cya.
Charlie
Dear Mum, Dad, Ruby, Paddy + Wally,
I am having such an awesome time. Thank you so much for this ‘Big’ experience and I have been enjoying every single minute of it. Everything has been such a blast and I can’t wait to see you all soon.
Thanks again and see you soon,
Charlie
