Day 6 – Friday 9 October - part 1

Breakfast was at the Hotel, the restaurant at least was very nice! They had a chef cooking you omelettes at as you watched as well as the usual rice, congee etc. Plus there was bacon, ham, potato cakes, French toast, pastries (that were very chewy and not all that nice!), fruit and yoghurt.

After breakfast we were off on our Terracotta Warriors Day!!!!

Our first stop was to see them making terracotta warriors. The shop attached to the workshop made me want to spend!!! They had some wonderful 1/3 and ½ sized warriors that would have been wonderful in our garden – price was an issue though! SO we settled on a small set of 4 Warriors and a horse to bring home.


The shop also specialised in inlayed lacquered furniture – very ornate!

We then headed on to Huaqing Pool. This was part of the Emperor’s Winter Palace. It is fed by hot springs and so was used as bathing houses. The Emperor had a large bath house for his use – where he invited his selected concubines to join him.
One of the bath houses was in the shape of a crab apple blossom and was the use of his favourite concubine – history says she had BO!

There were other bathing houses including one that originally had no roof so you could lie in the hot water and watch the stars! Another had small holes in the base so the chefs could wash their feet without using their hands.

All of this was nestled at the bottom of a mountain – we unfortunately couldn’t see it as it was covered in smog/mist/fog and rain!!



Lunch saw us try belt noodles, a speciality of Xian and said to promote longevity. They were really yummy! We also had sweet potato – it really was sweet, roast potatoes covered in toffee!

A quick walk around the market shops and we were off to the much anticipated Terracotta Warriors!

I just can not even begin to describe how I felt to stand and see those 2000 year old statues. I honestly think my heart skipped a beat – I was so totally amazed by them.




Emperor Qin was certainly an arrogant man! He had these life size men built to ensure he kept his stature in the next life that he enjoyed in this one. He even had the workers who built it killed so they could not disclose the location and on his death his concubines who had not born him children were buried alive so could procreate with them in the next life.

The first pit – although not fully excavated yet, was breathtaking! I soooo wanted to jump in and have a go at unearthing one of these amazing artefacts.


We walked around the first pit full of soldiers. They estimate that there is 6000 pottery figures and horses in this one. We could see where they were still excavating more of the soldiers. There is a long way to go. You could see a number of statues they were still piecing together. You could see numbers on each piece – I guess indicating where they were found so they could be returned to where they belong.


In a circular theatre we watched a movie of the history of Qin and how he had the Terracotta Warriors and his tomb formed. It also showed the uprising of the farmers and how they destroyed the Warriors and how they were discovered in 1974 by a group of farmers digging a well.

We had the chance to see the last surviving farmer who uncovered the Warriors and buy a book of the history of the area signed by him, which I did!

It was then free time for us to explore the rest of the site! A new exhibition showcasing the bronze horses and chariots that have been pieced back together was open. It was all created in ½ size and the detail was amazing! On the chariot was and umbrella with the first known lock on it. It was used to adjust the umbrella so it could be bent in different directions and protect the Emperor from the sun.



The second pit contained the cavalry although not much has been excavated so far. There were horses as well as the spaces where wooden chariots may have been.

The third pit, although smaller, had some amazing statues. It was the bunker for the generals to plan. The four horses at the entrance were to take messages to the troops.


We ended our tour at the Tea House where the rest of the group met up with us.

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The tour guide gave us a lot of information about the Warriors:
At age 12 the Crown Prince ordered the start of the building of his tomb. At 23 he became the Emperor. At 36 he unified China – Named himself Shi Quan Di (first Emperor) He died at the age of 50 by accidentally poisoning himself with his longevity medicine!

He was a cruel man who killed schoolers and had books burnt. He forced workers to spend 38 years each working for him on his tomb – most never lived long enough to finish and return to their families.

The main tomb with his remains has not been excavated as records state he had rivers and lakes of mercury built in it. Soil test at the presumed sight have shown very high levels of mercury supporting this. Also the tomb is said to be full of traps.
30 pits have been unearthed: soldiers, armour stores, bronze animals, bones of the concubines (who were buried alive so they could have children with him in the afterlife), acrobats etc

The terracotta warriors have little rounded tummies as they were fed wine to increase their courage in battle.

If a soldier could get ten heads of his enemy (by killing them and bringing back their heads) one of his parents no longer had to be a slave; 20 heads, both parents free; 100 heads, the family could own their own farm land; 500 heads, they could own 2 slaves and become a higher ranking officer.