Xi'an - Part 1

My favorite part of our China trip was our trip to Xi'an.  Xi'an houses the tombs of many emperors of China since it used to be the capital city.  The thing Xi'an is most famous for is the Terra Cotta warriors - the 8th wonder of the world discovered in the 1970s.  Some farmers were out in their fields digging one day and started digging up a ton of terra cotta clay.  They started investigating and digging more that led to the discovery of this world wonder. 

The first emperor of China, Emperor Qin, starting planning his tomb from the second he became emperor.  He had thousands of people crafting a clay army that would be buried in mine shafts surrounding his tomb.  The belief was that this army would protect him in the after life.  In total there are over 8,500 figures in this army including chariots and horses as well.  Each warrior has distinct facial features and hairstyles; no two warriors look alike.  Anyone who knew of the existance/location of the warriors was buried alive when the emperor died which is why the warriors were kept secret for so long. 

Many of the warriors were severly damaged when they were discovered, but they have been carefully pieced back together.  Only one warrior was fully intact when found - they call him the Lucky Warrior.  All of the warriors were painted; however, the paint fades within hours of excavation.  They are currently digging in other locations around the tomb for other figures which are buried.  They've found figures in several other digging sites only these other figures aren't warriors but rather entertainers - it's like a processional that would have preceeded the Emperor as he made his way into the city. 

The whole thing was really amazing!  I absolutely loved this part of our trip!

The Lucky Warrior