Xi’An Tour
December 8th, 2006 by stolisano
Our day was filled with adventure and excitement.
On the way to visit a Terra-Cotta Warrior factory, we asked our guide to stop at a pharmacy to purchase some needed items. We expected everything to be in Chinese… but surely did not expect to see dozens of nurses, wearing pink uniforms (the kind that nurses used to wear years ago with a hat), and long, very long lines of customers in line to pay for their items. With the help of our tour guide and two nurses, we managed to find what we needed. We were then taken to the front of the line (lucky us) to pay ahead of all the other people.
We then went on to see The Museum of the Terra-Cotta Warriors, which is regarded as one of the most important archaeological discovery of the 20th century. Luck was on our side, we were able to meet the farmer who accidentally discovered the warrior army while digging a well in 1974. He is now in his mid 70s. The army was built by emperor Qin to protect and help him conquer the world in his underground afterlife. The construction lasted 38 years from 247 BC- 208 BC with as many as 700,000 workers. The museum covers an area of 22,000 square meters, divided into three sections: No. 1 Pit, No. 2 Pit, and No. 3 Pit respectively. They were tagged in the order of their discoveries. The pits house and estimated 8,000 life size pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons. Don’t forget to come back here to see some close-ups, once we are able to upload individual pictures into our blog (Hopefully this weekend).
Our third stop was the Tea House. What a wonderful experience. Tea is grown all over China. Did you know that there are three tea categories? Woolong tea- Green tea- Black tea. There we learned how to serve tea, Chinese style, and how to hold a tea cup properly (Thumb and index finger hold the cup, while the third finger is placed underneath the tea cup to support it and…do not forget… pinky out for Ladies only).
21 Responses to “Xi’An Tour”
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We are practicing our tea time manners in our own tea room in our classroom! Which tea was your favorite?
It’s so cold here today that we served each other warm chocolate…that’s the Pre K version of hot chocolate!
Kylie would like to know how they keep from buring their fingers when holding the cup with one finger on the bottom?
Ariana would like to know why you got to go to the front of the line?
Brooke: Do the teas taste like they do here?
Terra-cotta warriors questions:
Why do they think that one pit was empty?
Do they know why the warriors were arranged they way they were?
Are all the soldiers still there or were they sent to other countries?
Was the Emperor’s body found preserved in the area?
Some of my students love tea. They were wondering if the tea is only served hot or can you get it cold? Which tea was your favorite?
Here are some questions from Mrs. Dawson’s class:
1. What was the farmer’s name?
2. Why did General Xiang Yu raid the tomb of Emperor Qin?
3. Were there any mistakes made on the details of the warrior’s weapons or facial expressions?
Did you learn how they made the soldiers? Why did the emperor want to keep the soldiers a secret?
Could you see the case where the emperor was buried? Did you count all the warriors?
Are there terra-cotta villagers buried anywhere else in China? How many days did it take to un-bury the warriors? How old was the emperor when he made them?
We have a few questions about the warriors. Nick wants to know what the farmer who discovered them looks like. Mitzi wants to know if the statues were made of gold. Cameron wants to know if Jose enjoyed meeting the farmer. Evan wants to know if Jose liked the warriors.
Also, Tylar wants to know how you got to the front of the line at the store.
Thanks and have fun!
My class had some questions about the warriors.
Trenton: What do the warriors mean to the Chinese people?
Connor: Why did he need the warriors to protect him?
Isabell: What did they warriors dress like?
Jud: Do the warriors have shoes on?
We are very proud of Mrs. St. Cyr and her ability to use chopsticks. We had a very hard time using them to eat rice yesterday. We cannot wait to see the pictures. Love, Mrs. Davidson’s Class
Mrs. Davidson’s Class:
The Chinese people are very proud of the warriors. Since they were built over 2000 years ago it is part of their glorious history. Nowadays, the warriors bring people from all over the world to China to see them.
Emperor Qin built them, because he believed in an afterlife and wanted to conquer the afterlife once he died.
The warriors all dressed differently according to their rank in the army.
Jud wanted to know if the warriors wore shoes? Yes! Here is a picture some warrior shoes.
Ms.Stormes,
Nick, I wish we could show you a picture of the old farmer, but he did not want his picture taken. But he looks very old. I don’t know if he was having fun sitting in a chair all day, every day signing books.
Mitzi, The figures are made of terra cotta. That is ceramic clay. They clay was put in a form and then it was put in an oven to burn.
Cameron, Jose had a wonderful time at the Terra Cotta Museum. He did not meet the farmer directly though, only saw him from far away.
Evan, Jose thought that the Terra-Cotta army was one of the most amazing things he has seen so far on his trip to China. It is a very humbling feeling to stand in front of this army, knowing that they were buried over 2000 years and no one knew about them.
Mrs. Paul’s class,
So far they have not uncovered ALL the terra-cotta warriors that are in the area of Xi’An. Using X-Ray machines, the government of China is able to see that there are more underground. We have not heard of any other find of more Terra-Cotta warriors anywhere else in China. Archaeologists have been un-earthing warriors since they were first discovered, but there are many more left to dig up.
The emperor started having the warriors made several years before he died, but they were not completely finished when he died at the age of 50.
Mrs. Weaver’s class,
The mausoleum where the emperor is buried has not been un-earthed. So far it has only been seen with a special X-ray machine. There were too many warriors to count. In one of our books we learned that there are supposed to be almost 8000 warriors total.
Mrs. Edwards’ class,
We saw a video how the warriors were made over two thousand years ago. Mrs. St-Cyr will bring the DVD back to the library and you will be able to see it.
The emperor believed in an after life and needed an army to conquer the underground once he died. He did not want anybody to come and find out and destroy his warriors.
Mrs. Dawson’s class,
We are not able to decipher the farmer’s signature. If you would like to try your luck in reading his name you can go to the library and ask Mrs. Ball for the Terra Cotta Warrior autographed book which we have on loan from Mrs. Arnold.
The mausoleum, where emperor Qin was raided, because they wanted the weapons and because they did not want Qin to rule the underground world.
We cannot know for sure if there were any mistakes made during the reconstruction of the warriors by the archaeologists, but one statue alone can take several months to restore. If the workers can find one piece in a day that fits, it is considered a lucky day for the archaeologists.
Mrs. Encarnacion’s class,
So far we have only been served hot tea. We liked all the tea that they served us at the tea house. One of our favorite one is the Jasmine tea. That kind of tea is served in most restaurants.
Mrs. Freyer’s class,
The tomb of the emperor has not been un-earthed as of yet. They did find his mausoleum near the terra-cotta warrior pits. Our guide told us that they have not opened the tomb, because they lack technology to be able to preserve its content.
The three pits we saw had warriors inside. Yes, they do know why the warriors were arranged the way they were found. The army was facing East, with its back to the tomb, serving as guardians to protect the entrance of the emperor’s tomb. In pit one and two , the warrior, archers, chariots and horses are in battle formation. Pit three houses the army head quarters.
All the soldiers are in China. They have not been sent to other countries as far as we know.
Tea:
Mrs. Freyer’s class,
Kylie,
The tea cups must be thicker on the bottom, since we did not burn our fingers while holding the cup. Our tongues did get burned though. Oouch!
Ariana,
We do not know why we were taken to the front of the pharmacy line. We just smiled and said “Thank You”.
Brooke,
The tea tasted a little different because there is such an elaborate ritual of brewing, preparing, and serving.
Mrs. Dearing’s class,
Our favorite tea was the Jasmine one. We are being served this kind in restaurants every day.