The second city we visited in China was Xi'an,
home of theTerra Cotta Warriors.
This is an interesting story.
About 2200 years ago, a mighty emperor
of China decided he wantedto 'take it with him'
when he died, so he had his artisans create
thousands of warrior figures to be buried
with him. Each of the figures has its own
individual face, and several army parts
are represented, horsemen (with horses!),
archers, foot soldiers,etc. When the emperor
died, the peasants revolted and burned the
burial sites to the ground. Over the years,
it was covered up and forgotten. In 1974
(I think I got the date right...) a farmer was
digging a well, and found a piece of one of the
warriors. The farmer had the presence of
mind to bring what he had found to the
authorities, and thus began one of the
biggest archeological digs in history.
There are three main burial sites (that
they know of) eachcovering hundreds of
acres on their own. Each of the 3 digs are
about the size of 3-4 football fields placed
side-by-side and is totally covered with
big dome roofs and open to the public.
These pictures dont really
do it justice, but here they are.
Enjoy!
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