Another Day, More Terracotta Warriors

For lunch after the Xi’an City Walls, we went to lunch at the same Cantonese restaurant where Carol and I had gone to dinner the night before.  We had seen Leo that night and told him how much we enjoyed the restaurant, so he promptly switched lunch from a different restaurant.  (We didn’t suggest switching, but we were happy to go back).  This restaurant received positive reviews from everyone, so that’s good.

Then, it was back on the bus with an hour ride to the mini-Terracotta warriors dig in Han Yangling.  The tomb of Jing-di, the fourth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty.  He died in 141 BC.  He either lived for 47 years or ruled for 47 years – no quite sure which is right.  Apparently he was a good ruler, who cut taxes, used diplomacy to cut down on war, and lessened punishment on criminals.

This mausoleum was much less crowded than the big Terracotta warriors display, which was pleasant.  Here, you put plastic booties on your sneakers, and walk on glass displays OVER the pits. 

The mini-Terracotta warriors are about three feet tall.  There are 81 pits in all, with lots of pottery.  The terracotta figurines had movable wooden arms, but those arms did not stand the test of time.  We did not go to the museum section, with has 8,000 figurines, but walking through pits, though dark and problematic for photography, was pretty cool.

Not only are there the warriors, but also livestock, pottery, chariots, daily appliances, weapons, granaries, seals (not the animal!), and other things as well.  Robbers have stolen lots of things, but there is still a lot more to excavated.  The display of four seals is very cool, as the little seals are behind magnifying glasses, so you get a good look at them.

Not as impressive as the first set of warriors we saw the previous day, but still pretty amazing.

After that, it was back on the bus, and we headed for the Xi'an airport for our flight to Yichang.