Coolest Museum
We tried again to get to Emperor Jing Di burial site and succeeded this time. We had spent a whole day trying to get there so we were very happy to finally make it. Very few visitors had found their way so no crowds at all. Also the neatest thing about it was how they excavated the burial pits and built a museum over the top. Clear plastic flooring allows you to look down into the pit as you walk above. There were hundreds and hundreds of miniature soldiers, pigs, chickens, horses, cows, chariots, and more. The detail is amazing...even tiny quivers full of tiny arrows of the soldiers backs. Even more amazing is the fact that each of these little soldiers was dressed in beautiful silk clothing and held all the necessary equipment of the day.
Jing Di became emperor in 157 B.C. and ruled for 17 years. He ruled using the Wu Wei philosophy: Do nothing & nothing will not be done. He must of done something cause during that time he unified much of China and his rule is considered to be the pinnacle of Han Dynasty. Today over 90% of Chinese are descended from the Han people. Only a small part of the burial site is excavated...apparently an entire miniature city is buried here to serve the emperor in his next life! A special presentation at the museum included a high quality hologram that made all of the characters come alive for us as miniature chickens pecked at the ground, miniature women danced in fancy costumes and flames soared from tiny fires.
Historical Museum
We wandered among 5000+ year old artifacts and examined the 200,000 yr old skull in the Xi'an Historical Museum. Since it was the custom to bury most everything you owned to use in your next life, there is an amazing amount of items that have been excavated in Xi'an as the city dates back about 6000 years. Piles of gold coins, elaborate hair pins & buttons, decorative pots & dishes...even a cooking grill that looked just like our old hibachi!! I sincerely doubt anyone will ever look at anything we have in 5000+ years???
Train to PingYao
Moving on...we hopped a sleeper train headed for PingYao. Actually hopped is not the right word as we were herded through several gates and waiting room so it was more like pushed onto a sleeper train among thousands of others...all Chinese one of which grabbed my suitcase & carried it down two flights of steps right to the car we got on. After several people led us to our bunks...we discovered three of our bunk mates spoke English! They sat on the edge of their beds eagerly asking and answering questions. The first question was "Do you know Michaels?"--she was thrilled we had as she sold her glass candle holders to them. She asked if it was like Walmart? They told us they were proud of China's progress but felt the 60% of the population that lived in the rural area were still really poor and without much medical care. (Premier Wen Jiabao recently report wages were up 22%, Health coverage was 95% & 60 million less are paying income taxes--though he did note that was mainly in the urban area.) They also felt that there were still many challenges facing China due to the large & growing population. They said housing was very expensive & that most of the tall condo buildings going up were by private investors & empty--confirming what we heard from others. Because of housing expense, a man needed to have a house before anyone would marry him so usually, his parents bought him a house...after paying for his university...and then the parents took almost total care of the grandchildren. (No wonder most support the one child policy!) They were very interested in how children were cared for in USA. After they asked how long we'd been married, they asked a strange question..do you go for years without talking. When we said no...they looked very surprised & said, "Never???" That led to a discussion about divorce. They heard that in USA people get divorce quickly over small fights. They informed us that now 30% of Chinese marriages end in divorce mostly due to quarrel over who will do the house work...& had risen that high since the 1980's when the one child policy kids started marrying. About then, someone looked at their watch...it was 9:55 & lights were out at 10 so we all quickly jumped in our bunks--Rog & I both had middle bunk with one above & one below...and soon were rocked asleep...until 6 a.m. when got off the train and we stepped back in time in the ancient 2700 year old city of PingYao.
PingYao
This city is like a relic--almost fossilized. It seems these people changed nothing--barely maintaining most everything--and now are famous for that! The wall that surrounds it was originally built in 700 BC. & the catapult & many canons were still there. The whole city is like walking through a museum...and within the museum are a multitude of smaller museum: first armed escort service site (pre-police) & jail that had displayed torture items complete with vivid drawings of use, first draft bank (ancestor to all modern Chinese banks), most preserved City God Temple, only Taoist Temple open to public (with detailed & grotesque torture scenes depicting hell & filled with demons--no loving god there!!), Confucius temple where he taught & his students took exams & largest collection of his writings as most were destroyed by some Emperor's orders....while there one of his disciples came up to me & asked where I was from in very broken English & when I told him, he gestured an up thumb & said Obama & a down thumb saying Bush...guess that was another Confucius saying!
The View from Above
We walked much of the wall which gave us a bird's eye view of the city...we peered down on the many courtyards filled with laundry, dogs, children, drying corn, piles of bricks rescued from falling buildings, wood, etc. We read that the same families have lived in the same years for generations enjoying the same courtyard neighbors for generations. It was so interesting to see what was behind those many old wooden doors we'd seen as we walked the streets and get a small peek at their lives.
Biking
We rented bikes & went outside the walls...and I know by the looks on their faces, that many of the people who saw us were thinking...yikes, some tourist escaped the wall!
Wedding Parade
As we biked along, we heard loud music & firecrackers so we followed it to the source which took us under bright red blow up arches...to a band playing in the back of a truck with a flower decorated car behind it...the bride & groom! The truck led the newly weds up & down the streets playing jolly music & lighting firecrackers! Maybe it'll catch on in USA!!
