We woke up early again to get ready, eat breakfast and meet our guide for our trip to see the Terra Cotta factory and Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit. We walked outside and were pleasantly surprised at the change in the temperature. It was much cooler and cloudy. Such a nice change. It was still warm but we didn't feel like we were melting! This was the main thing the boys really wanted to see here in China. We watched a documentary in our China studies for school about the Terra Cotta Army and they really liked it.
It was about an hour's drive to the exhibit. We went through a lot of the city and then onto an expressway, which are ALL tollroads here in China. The countryside is very beautiful, green and lush here. Sha'anxi province is known for their pomegranates and there are trees everywhere. The weird thing was that we saw plastic bags (like little sandwich-sized bags) on all the fruit of the trees. Who gets that awesome job? Yikes. I guess it's to protect them from birds or insects but it seems like they would get so hot and rot in the bags. They all had a bunch of water in them too. Just strange. Right when you get out of the city you can see the mountains and we drove straight for them. Very beautiful. Josh loved it!
The first stop we made is at the factory where they replicate the Terra Cotta soldier making process. It was a really cool place. I love seeing how things are made. Celine handed us off to a guide there at the factory and he was very nice and spoke very good English.
First he showed us the kiln where they are fired after being made. One soldier takes 30 days to make! They put the solider in and then fill the whole with mud and build the fire underneath. They have two openings in their kiln. They make full sized soldiers and every other size imaginable.
Then we went inside the actual factory. The Terra Cotta soldiers themselves are each unique and patterned after an actual solider for the emperor. Here our guide was showing us that they only build one face for the general, one face for the archer, one face for the captain, etc.
This is the face of a general. You can tell the rank of the solider by his hairdo. Two buns means general - "like butterfly" is what our guide kept saying. They mold the front half and the back half of the head separately (leaving it hollow inside) and then join them together and the artisan makes the seam disappear. Then it has to sit and air dry for a while before it's ready for the kiln. The head, body and legs are all separate pieces.
Here are some of the smaller soldiers. These are the kneeling archers and they are the most popular. I'll explain why in a little bit. You can see the drying process really well on these. The lighter part is the driest part.
Here are some other pieces in the drying process. You can see all the different sizes and types of soldiers. The big blob things on the right are the molds that are tied together.
Our guide did a great job of explaining the process and talking to the kids.
Here is one of the artisans filling a mold.
Another one working on some smaller statues:
At this factory they also make lacquered tables and other furniture with great detail. This one is decorated with jade and has jade insets. Amazing workmanship.
Here were are with all the different types of soldiers.
This was their "showroom", aka "where everything is for sale room".
They had all sorts of little trinkets. The boys loved these glass dragons.
And especially these swords. They begged to take one home. Pretty sure that will not fit in our luggage though.
So, the reason the kneeling archer is the most popular here in Xi'an. This is a map of the Sha'anxi province - where Xi'an is located. It's the shape of the kneeling archer's profile. They are very proud of this too. It requires some imagination to see but it's not a huge stretch.
Maddie found her soulmate. ;)
They also had a bunch of these globes made with inlaid wood and stones. Some of the cities and things they put on the globe aren't exactly correct though. Kind of funny but still amazing workmanship.
We ended up buying some of the small kneeling archers - one for G someday and one for Josh's office. We did not purchase a sword, much to the chagrin of the boys (including Daddy).
Then it was on to the main exhibit! Our driver let us out at the entrance and our guide went to purchase our tickets.
You can see the people turning to stare as they walked by in every picture!
There were like 12 entrance gates - no clue why there were so many, but this was one of many!
Here are the mountains I was talking about. It's so hard to see anything in the distance here because of the pollution. EVERY city is very polluted and everything just looks foggy all the time. :(
After several entrance gates we hopped on a tram to the actual exhibits (and probably went through more entrance gates.) The line for the tram was CRAZY! There is no common courtesy here. It's every man for himself. They will push an old woman or child out of the way to be next. It's really weird and very annoying. It was a fight to keep our group all together. We had to RUN to the tram vehicle just to get a seat on the same vehicle.
After what seemed like forever we finally made it to the exhibit buildings. There are 3 buildings each containing a Pit. They are still excavating each one but this first one we went to (I can't remember which Pit number it was though) was the most complete in its excavation. Here, again, we had to push and fight our way to get to the railing. We waited for our turn at first but then our guide told us that was useless. As soon as someone moved I pushed all the kids up there and I had to fight off people trying to push us out of the way. So insane!
This was before the people moved.
And after.
This building is HUGE! Airplane hangar sized at the very least.
You can see how each solider is different and unique. You can also tell their rank by their hairdos (like we learned at the factory) and their shoes. The flat and square toed shoes are the lower ranks and the ones that are drawn up into a point are the more important guys.
The loops on the back of the armor are where their weapon was stored. Most of the weapons were made of wood though and had rotted away by the time the army was discovered. The metal spearheads and arrowheads, etc., were found but they are kept in a separate place.
This is a view from the right looking back to where we were standing at first. See all those people? Yep, they're up there fighting for a place at the railing. Like children. *eye roll*
The kids took lots of pictures.
Love this kid's cheesy face!
This is the restoration part of the exhibit. They take the pieces they find from the pits and bring them back here to restore and repair everything. They make sure to mark and take note of where everything was found so they can put them back in the right spot. The restorers work at night on these while the exhibit is closed to the public.
We made it through this building and on to the next. It was much darker in there and a deeper pit.
This Pit hasn't been through as much excavation as the others.
This was outside one of the buildings (I can't remember which and I can't read the signs to figure it out!) See the lady turning to look at us?
Josh had to get a picture (or 20) of us with the mountains in the background. :)
The last building we entered was a museum of sorts all about the construction of the buildings and information on the exhibits.
This was a huge bird's eye view photo of the complex. As I was trying to take a picture of it this woman came up to C with her son and insisted they pose together for a picture. Like C was some sort of tourist attraction. Neither boy was excited about it. You can see C's head and the top of the little boy's too. It was funny to watch.
After this museum we were done and decided to leave. To get to the exit you have to walk through a huge marketplace. They are building a GIGANTIC indoor mall on the site but it's still in the early stages of construction. There were several restaurants so we decided to eat lunch. We had some yummy noodles and other foods with our guide. So much easier to order at a restaurant with a guide!
This is a giant monument in the city on our way back from the Terra Cotta Army exhibit. I'm sure Celine told us the story behind it (there is always some big important story) but I've completely forgotten it by now!
On the way home we hit up Walmart for more water and snacks. We found Honey Nut Cheerios (tastes the same but MUCH thicker), Chips Ahoy cookies (totally the same), Pringles (pretty much the same, slightly different texture), some rice cookies that Celine said were a very famous snack in China, and some canned congee for G. We also found cup o' noodles that we could make in the room.
While at Walmart M had her first encounter with a squatty potty. One of the most disgusting experiences of my life! They don't supply toilet paper - you have to take your own in AND you can't flush it. There's a little trash can in each filled with USED toilet paper. The stench of these places is unbelievable!!!
When we got back to the room everyone was hungry again so we busted out the snacks. The rice cookies verdict:
Yeah, Mom and Dad are not fans but all the kids love them. They're slightly sweet and taste a little like popcorn. Mostly just gross. The white spots are the icing.
I think we ended up eating the cup o' noodles for dinner and G had her canned congee, which she devoured, as usual. Then it was bedtime - yay!
G is liking Josh more and will give him kisses but she still prefers mom. She does not want M to hold her at all, which makes M very sad. She will tolerate it for brief periods but she lets us know that she isn't happy about it. It will get better!
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