Friday, February 15, 2013

74. The Terracotta Army; Xi'an, China, 2011

The city of Xi'an is green and seems younger than Beijing. The city has a lot of universities, a metro has recently been built, the city is active and full of young people. The fact that there are a lot of young student is encouraging for tourists as they can expect to find someone who speaks English. Though dialogues of the type may surprise:

- Where are you from?
- Canada
- Aaaaa! Chinada!!!
- OH no! Thanks! Not yet!!! (((

The old city is surrounded by a big ancient wall. Inside we can find a lot of old blocks and streets with arab-chinese people making famous eastern sweets (and we have tried almost all of them!). There is even a unique mosque-temple. Though the major attraction of the city is the Terracotta Army which is situated outside of the city.

We took the bus to see it. In the bus someone offered me a place (as to the foreigner???). I was extremely surprised and tried to offer the seat to an old lady. In the beginning she didn't understand what I wanted, refused for 5 minutes, finally sat down and looked at me with admiration.

Air conditioning in the bus was controlled by the speed and open windows. All bus drivers work in a uniform which resembles that of police.

To a newcomer, Chinese traffic appears to have no rules or, if there are rules, it appears they are neither followed nor enforced. In reality, of course, there are rules; they do generally manage to avoid hitting each other. However, Chinese rules are very different from what most travellers are used to.  To Western eyes, appallingly bad driving is the norm, and insane or suicidal behaviour behind the wheel is fairly common. Do not assume that Chinese drivers will follow any rule you know.

Foreign drivers must try to adapt to this (or, perhaps more sensibly, give up and take taxis or hire a driver). You do not have to learn to drive like a Chinese, but at least you should not be surprised when they do. There is absolutely no point getting angry if someone cuts you off or drives against the red light or on the wrong side of the road. You simply yield and carry on as if nothing had happened.

Every car/driver has a "body language" which predicts what they will do next. It is essential to learn this "body language" and drive by it. If you are driving down a four lane road, and the lane in front of the taxi to the right of you and slightly ahead of you is blocked, the lane ahead is free, you should immediately assume the taxi will move left into your lane without any warning. On the roads there are a lot of bikes and cycles, often heavily charged. Trucks are often overcharged covering rear mirror views. Thus if you want to pass it leave free lane between you and the truck. This sort of thinking ahead, or defensive driving, can help you avoid many problems but of course you cannot predict everything that may happen.

Another way to look at it is that there are only two rules you must obey, both equally important. Don't hit anything, and don't get hit by anything.

Which is why I was really surprised to see only two accidents on the streets. One of them was when two cycles bumped one into another, drivers calmly explained what they think one about another and they continued. Generally Chinese do not yell - a very phlegmatic nation.

The Terracotta Army is huge: around 8000 sculptures dating from around the late third century BC. All the figures produce realistic appearance having around 300 details each. There are warriors, infantry men, archers, cavalry, officers, horses, carriages, etc. For now only 1500 are restored and exhibited. The complex is composed of numerous pits the biggest being 800 feet by 200 feet and 23 deep. Pit two has cavalry and infantry units as well as war chariots and is thought to represent a military guard. Pit three is the command post, with high-ranking officers and a war chariot. Pit four is empty, seemingly left unfinished by its builders. There are some containing smaller figurines of animals, cooks i.e. everything the army could need. All those pits are situated near Emperor's Qin tomb, the first Emperor of China. He managed to conquest and place under his rule the various kingdoms/duchies thus making a lot of enemies. This could be the reason why he wanted to take an army with him into another world after death.))


As always welcome to my new gallery:
http://www.artiomkusci.com/foto/galleries/074/?en

Don't forget my previous photo sketch: http://blog.artiomkusci.com/2012/12/interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-china.html

www.artiomkusci.com/foto