China: Xian | travel

Xi'an, the heart of China

We jumped on the bullet train in Beijing and rushed at 300km/h to the heart of China and the capital of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang. Far away from the big-squares of inner Beijing, it was exciting to see a different face of China with Xian’s small motor vehicle repair shops and fruit stores on every corner. Not to mention, Xian attracts tourists from China and the rest of the globe due to a quite unique archeological discovery. In 1974, farmers digging a well, found ancient pottery and figures. It turned out that they had stumbled upon one of the most significant and largest archeological discoveries the world has ever seen: the thousand man strong Terracotta army and the unopened tomb of the first Qing emperor. The terracotta army is just a part of a much larger necropolis – a microcosm of 98 square km built for the emperor.

We had traveled more than 1100 kilometers on the railway to see this wonder and were spellbound by its otherworldly size and the lifelike ghostly looking soldiers each depicting the unique facial features, hairstyles and clothing of real men serving the emperor 1000 years ago.

Chinese bullet train from Beijing to Xi'an. Surprisingly comfortable and our best train experience in Asia

Pit nr 2: the largest excavation site

Pit nr. 2 is estimated to consist of 80 war chariots, about 1,300 terracotta soldiers

Pit nr 2: at burial, the terracotta soldiers were painted
in bright colors which many lost at the excavation of
the site when exposed to dry air.

Pit nr. 2: each of the more than thousand soldiers has unique clothing, hair, facial features and moods.

Pit nr. 3: The command headquarters for all the groups in the other two pits

Pit nr. 2: seen from the side

Pit nr. 2: ongoing archeological work

Pit nr. 2 and the ongoing excavation

Pit nr. 2: excavated soldiers placed the way they
stood a thousand years ago.

One happy bee at the site

The command center. To the right are examples of excavated, not yet resembled figures

Drum town in the city of Xi'an

Buzzing food street in Xi'an

Freshly prepared meat in the food street

Thanks for tuning in!

- Two traveling bees

Back