Our first visit for the morning was to the city wall – once again in the misty rain and smog.
The wall ran around the inner city to protect the Emperor from attack. It was built over 8 years from 1370 – 1378 and is 12km long (3km x 4km). It is 12m high and ranges from 18m wide at the bottom to 14m wide at the top. It was build using packed earth mixed with sticky rice, kiwi juice and lime.
Even though it was raining it was quite pleasant walking around the top of the wall. There were replica canons, ladders and other pieces of equipment along one section of the wall.
The archer houses were quite beautiful. Each little window opened out so that archers could fire out of them! If the enemy was approaching a bell would be rung. If it rang once it indicated 1000 enemies, twice 2000 etc.
The enemy could be trapped in an area called the jar. They were able to close off the gates and trap them in it and kill them. It is now used as a car park!
Outside the city wall is the city park and then the city moat. The battlements faced this side while a lower wall faced the Forbidden City.
We were then taken to an art gallery and museum in Xian. They gave us a tour and described some of the different periods in Chinese art history. It included paintings by farmers, some used as propaganda for the Cultural Revolution.
The shadow puppets were beautiful and very detailed! They were made from leather and were then painted. Each figure had around 11 joints to allow the puppet to be moved.
The paper cuttings were also stunning! They are a traditional art and are used to decorate houses during special events. Red is a very traditional colour.
The calligraphy class was fun! We were shown a number of Chinese characters and then shown the 8 basic brush strokes used to create all characters. The symbol for longevity uses all of them! We were then given rice paper and brushes and had the opportunity to draw this symbol.
Lunch was in the Sunshine Theatre complex again. It ended up quite memorable as it was Jenny S’s 50th Birthday. We bought her a birthday cake and all sang to her!
It was a bit of a drive out to Siyuan Middle School. The school was very large. It was a boarding school and we were lucky enough to be taken for a tour.
The facilities were not all that flash really. We saw the Science labs – they had speciality labs for Bio, Chem and Physics. They also had computer labs and a language lab. All were quite old – and each were set up for very large classes!
We were able to join in a Physics class. The students were older and their desks were covered in piles of books! They were quite shy with us – especially when we gave them gifts of Australian lapel pins, koala clip ons and other little Aussie things!
The dorms were an eye opener! There were 6 students per room. They each had a desk and cupboard area with a bunk bed above. The floors were concrete with a heater out on an attached balcony (it must be freezing in winter as it snows here!!). The bathrooms and toilets smelt and were very basic.
A metal roller door separated the Boys and Girls dorm and was locked each night!
The Principal then showed us the world class soccer field and athletic track that was shared with the uni next door. It was in sharp contrast to the student living facilities!
We presented the school with a copy of the Griffith Photo Book donated by Marie Photo graphics.
Jolie (our guide) then took us for a drive through to the middle of Xian, behind the city wall. The traffic was a nightmare! Fiona too video of the chaos around a giant roundabout!
Jolie showed us the Bell Tower that was built in 1384 with no nails in the original structure – it was all dove tail joints. It is built right in the centre of Xian and is only 100m from being in the exact middle of China!
The Bell tower bells are rung in the morning.
Driving on bit further we came to the Drum Tower where the drums are beaten at night.
We were given free time to walk around a bazaar and go to a supermarket to buy supplies for the train.
The bazaar was bizarre!! It was full of food stalls – meat on sticks, flat bread filled with meat and veges, stir fries etc. The rest of it was filled with hundreds of little stalls – that soon all started to look the same! We bought the Boys and Jake a T-Shirt each and Jason found the scroll he had been looking for. It is of the Great Wall of China and is beautiful! The scroll part at the base even has jade ends. He also found a bottle opener that has proved very useful!
That ended our time in Xian and we headed to the train – it was even more chaotic this time! It was VERY crowded. After much pushing through the crowds we made it to the soft sleeper waiting area. There was no where to sit and nearly no room to stand!
Eventually we were able to get on the train. It was a nicer train this time, with softer mattresses and higher pillows (just!). After snacking on “crispy crispy good flavour” biscuits with “fragrant crispy entry” we went to sleep.
