Xi'an and Beijing

“We have very few people who believe in communism as a faith, so there’s an emptiness in their hearts.” 

I read this quote which was made by a hairdresser in China.  It captures the feeling I got while there. The effects of communism and the cultural revolution were readily apparent, and I generally felt the people in the big cities to be cold and egocentric.  Whether it be from the brutality imposed on the people during the communist takeover, the single child policy, the gloomy & smoggy surroundings or the void left by the eradication of any and all faith - the result, in my opinion, was cold & empty.


I have struggled for over a month on how to express my thoughts on this, so with that extremely simplified bit of pontification over....on to what we saw and did.

Xi'an

The terra-cotta warriors... I must admit, they were impressive.  It is a shame that they are now indoors because you do lose the effect of it being an outdoor archaeological site.  It was interesting to learn that the paint oxidizes within hours of the warriors being unearthed.  The government is holding off excavating any additional warriors until they can figure out how to prevent this from happening.  All of the warriors were ultimately knocked down by the roof system collapsing upon them, so when they were unearthed they were all in pieces on the ground.  They have been slowly reassembled - but there are thousands more to be found.  The site, I would have to believe, has only begun to be excavated.  The tomb itself has not even been touched yet.  I really hope they do this in my lifetime.

We met up with the Ristroph family for Xi'an & Beijing

A broad view of the "pit"

Every warrior is unique...face, hair & physical traits

This is how each row was found - and they have pieced each warrior back together

The original color (partial) before oxidization 

We each purchased our own customized warrior made from the excavated clay.  The funny part of the story is that it took 4 weeks to receive the warriors.  6 days later the head of our warrior hit the floor and shattered...after being glued back together it more closely resembles the original:-)

The next day, we went to The Beilin Famous Tablet Museum and had a calligraphy lesson from a master calligrapher.  The 4 girls all did great with the characters that they had already learned in school - and we ALL learned what an art it is.

With the "master"

Afterwards we went to family's home for lunch where they taught us how to make noodles for the soup.

Rolling the dough

As an added treat...we had persimmons!  Have never tasted these before...mushy and bright..the kids loved them!!

Cutting noodles

After lunch we went for a walk through the "old" village and came across a very familiar scene

The "old" city is falling apart before everyone's eyes

The couple had a grandchild and hence some toys...they brought them out for the 4 girls who had a tremendous time

On our walk we came across a neighborhood playground...and the kids could not have been happier!

That night we went to the "Tang Dynasty Show" which were a collection of dances and music from the Tang Dynasty (618-906).  It was a brilliant display of color and music and the girls were enthralled for the entire show.

A quick flight to Beijing the next morning and we were off the see The Forbidden City.  We had watched several Discovery shows on the history of the city and I was so glad that we did!  It was truly magnificent!  

We learned that the number of dragons on the corners signifies how important the building is.  

The slab of stone was transported over land in the middle of winter...they put water on the path in front and let it freeze so that they could more easily slide this enormous piece of stone over the terrain.

The night ended with an acrobat show.  The 4 girls sat there with their mouths hanging open...it was unbelievable!!

There were 6 motorcycles riding around the inside of this orb...it was crazy!

We woke to a brisk morning and visited Tiananmen Square.  The girls had watched video of the scene from 1989 and were in awe of seeing where that took place.  

Then we saw this!  I had read about "split pants" but really never paid it much attention.  When children reach potty training age they put them in these....and teach them to squat whenever nature calls!

From Tiananmen Square we went to see the Temple of Heaven.  I have to admit that I had done no research on this prior to coming...and I really wish that I had.  It was built at the same time as the Forbidden City (early 1400's) and was an architectural achievement at the time.  It was built without post/beam construction....simply with columns.  

While walking around we ran into our friends the Mahoney's... Courtney is one of Elle's favorite friends in Singapore.

Another fact I did not know about the Temple of Heaven is that it is actually a gigantic park that the people actually use.  It was a little oasis of happiness as they danced, sewed, played cards, etc. all throughout the park.

And who would have thought we would have seen a fan in China???

Harris, Ristroph and Mahoney's .... a whole gaggle of girls!

and a particularly cute pair of split pants:-)

A rickshaw ride through the Hutong led us through a very old part of the city where we again enjoyed a lunch in a family home.  We learned how to make dumplings here...yum!

The courtyard of the family's home...3 generations share this space

Folding the dough

Voila!

One of the truly most memorable moments was walking down the vendor's street in Beijing.  Here they serve delicacies that we have never, ever seen!

Way back on our trip to Vietnam we had the kids convinced  that they were brave enough to try "bugs."  Unfortunately we never came across any for them to try.  Beijing on the other hand....

Yep!!  One scorpion coming right up!!!!

Wow...I did it...tail, stinger, claws and all!!!

Elle did too!  Her feedback?  It tastes like a chicken nugget:-)

Read the sign on the middle tray....yes, you are reading that correctly.

And as a reward for their bravery?  A much appreciated meal at McDonalds!!

Our final day in China culminated with our trip to see the Great Wall.  As I mentioned in my writing of India, there are many surprises and disappointments when seeing famous sights.  The Great Wall of China is right up there with the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids of Egypt in terms of sheer awe.  It was absolutely amazing in it's size, scale and accomplishment.  These are not little hills with a wall on top!  They are rugged, steep and have an amazing 3889 mile engineering feat assembled atop!!  

I was surprised at the vegetation on the hillsides...for some uneducated reason I thought it was more rocky and arid.

The wall simply went on and on and on....

Good fortune

Yes we did cheat on the way up....and took the toboggan back down!!

Travelers never think that they are the foreigners.  ~Mason Cooley

I must admit that China surprised me in many ways.  After visiting India, Vietnam and Cambodia I had thought that I had seen the third world...however China was, to me, more third world than I imagined.  It did force me to reconsider what that means.  Is it simply the living conditions?  Is it the sanitation? Is it the ability to own things? Or is it the peace you find in yourself and in your beliefs?

Hmmm....the beauty of travel and discovery!