Taking on the Terra Cotta Army

One of the major sites to see in China is the Terra Cotta Army or “bing ma yong” as they known in Mandarin. The Army has been also designated as a UN World Heritage site. By seeing them, I would be able to cross off another thing on my “to-do” list for this trip.

The day I arrived in Xi’an I immediately booked a tour for the Terra Cotta Army. The tour began promptly at 9:30am from the hostel where I boarded a van with a couple of other people from the hostel. The cost of the tour was 200RMB with lunch included. I know I could have done this tour cheaper on my own via public transport, but I didn’t want to worry about getting there on my own as I am in China for only 2 weeks. Even at about 28 USD, that’s still cheaper than the 50-60USD that I was being quoted from the Internet prior to my trip.

In case you don’t know, the Terra Cotta Army is about 30-40KM outside of Xi’an. Before stopping at the site (and since this was a tour), we stopped at a ceramics factory which made model terra cotta soldiers. I know the tour operator probably gets a small kick back for every item their tourists buy, but there were some nice items and I bargained hard and bought something.

The story of the discovery of the Terra Cotta Army goes something like this…in 1974 a farmer was digging a well and dug into the corner of the tomb of the Chinese Emperor. By 1985, the musuem site was opened to the public.

A few other interesting facts include the following-

1) the emperor who ordered the construction of the terra cotta army died during a surprise visit to the site and was buried onsite.

2) each clay soldier is unique especially in the face. The faces are based on the likeness of the actual human being that the clay model was to represent. The clay models are very detailed.

3) the reason you will see clay soldiers’ bodies missing heads is because the heads were made seperately from the bodies.

Arriving at the site, you go from the main ticket gate to a movie area where you watch a film about how the clay soldiers were discovered and made. This movie area is closet to pit 3.

Of all the excavated areas, pit 3 displays the most terra cotta soldiers. Pit 3 is problably the size of 3-4 football fields at least. When I heard the word pit, I initially thought it was going to be a very small area, but each pit is a seperate building. Walking into pit 3, you see the distinct rows of soldiers seperated by a row of earth (dirt). These rows of dirt have yet to be uncovered may contain more soldiers. In each row, there are the soldiers lined up neatly in column formation – ready to attack or defend – waiting for their orders.

As I took pictures of the soldiers in pit 3, I could tell the differences in facial features of each one. It really is that detailed. I am truly fascinated by this attention to detail even for something like a “clay” soldier army.

I walked from pit 3 to pit 1 and 2. These pits do not nearly have the same number of soldiers unearthed and much the pits are still being dug out. The cool thing about pit 1 (hope this is the right pit #) is that the best model of each type of soldier is on display; including, a high ranking officer (aka a General), which there have been only 7 found in the entire Terra Cotta Army site, 2 different archers, a “Middle Ranking” officer, and a calvary man with his saddled war horse.

Each of these soldier models were impressive in detail and condition. They probably represent the best condition that have been discovered for each type of clay soldier.

My tour wrapped up and everyone at lunch together before heading back to Xi’an. Getting back to the hostel took longer than usual because it was a Saturday and traffic was very bad. I would spend the rest of my time in Xi’an hanging out at the hostel talking to a Canadian student who would be studying in China for next 8 months and an Australian who was also traveling in China.

Overall, the Terra Cotta Army impressed me. I am amazed that the soldiers have been so well preserved over the course of time. I’m glad I made the decision to visit the site. It was nice to be able to cross one of my must see items off the list. For anyone who is visiting China for the first time, I highly recommend seeing the Terra Cotta Army in Xi’an.

Check out the rest of my photos in the Terra Cotta Army Gallery.

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Tags: China, perspective, Terra Cotta Army, Xian

This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 4:44 am and is filed under China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.