The Terra Cotta Warriors and Sixth Grade

Today we toured the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian. In 2020 BC Emperor Qin (with many slaves at his disposal) erected a monument for himself to be protected in the afterlife. He is said to be a very imperfect fellow, a bit full of himself and vengeful to boot. He commissioned an army of terra cotta warriors 8000 in total each in its own unique style, no duplicates. This army of men were accompanied by weapons, horses and chariots. It is a truly amazing site! As it turns out the Emperor was wise to get this underway because he met an early demise by poisoning himself. It seems he would drink anything that was told to prolong life and he ingested enough Mercury to die before his time. There were a couple of sons that ineptly tried a hand at running the empire and this led to a peasant revolt. During this revolt the terra cotta warriors were destroyed and over time forgotten until the 1970’s when a farmer discovered these figures when digging a well. 

This archaeological site is divided up in to three pits. The second of which is only partially excavated.  It is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. Its magnitude is impossible to describe. The park where they are housed is nicely built and appointed. We dined at the park as well where I tried an old gelatinous egg for the first time (flavorless blessedly).

A few minutes from this World Heritage Site was a country school. We were expected here for a visit with a sixth grade class to share talents (Coco was dancing) and to ask each other questions and do a gift exchange with the students. The classroom was unheated today in a climate much like Michigan. The kids were curious and interested. Many of them actually spoke a fair amount of English. It was a poor school but the kids looked healthy and well cared for. They taught each other tongue twisters and sang a Chinese song that our girls had practiced. It was a truly unique experience. One little gal told Erich when she grew up she was going to be a business man. Capitalism is certainly king in this country.

We then headed to a Jade Factory. The Chinese Tourism Department requires a certain amount of sales visits when touring bigger cities. Our traveling companions in their American attitudes are growing a little weary of this part of the journey. In our country if we do not want to do something we don’t do it and this somehow defies translation in China. But as irritating as this is I think it also a part of this Chinese culture and all a part of the bigger experience.

Our dinner tonight was a dumpling banquet followed by a Tang Dynasty Dancing Show. The food was really good… who knew there were so many flavors of dumplings. The dance performance was quite well done and Coco and Vivian sat on the edge of their seats the whole time.

Tonight those four girls (Annalise, Coco, Matilda and Vivian) sat at their own table in their own little girl cocoon, laughing, talking and really enjoying each others company. We certainly could have taken any tourist trip to China but it would be missing all these important layers. Tonight our families said goodbye again as our companions head off to their orphanage visits and we head to the Yunnan to get some fresher air. We meet back again in Shanghai for the last leg of our journey when we all depart on the first.