China-Day 8: Xi'an

After a splendid late(ish) breakfast, we met our guide Kevin in the lobby and headed out to start our day. Our first trip was to the Small Wild Goose Pagoda (Xiaoyan Ta), in the Jianfu Si just outside of the city walls. This amazing old landmark lost it's top in an earthquake in the middle 16th Century - leaving 43m of this structure intact. Originally built to house the Buddhist scriptures bought back from India in AD 707, it is now the centrepiece to a series of tranquil gardens frequented early in the morning by Xian's older inhabitants - there to perform their morning Tai Chi, sword dancing or just plain old moseying around. It was in this idyll we came across a photographically ideal older lady in white practising Tai Chi. Cue Kelly's obvious enthusiasm and we were quickly being taught the basics of the art - with many smiles exchanged and photos taken. The lady indicated to Kevin that she thought Kelly was very good. That ended all too soon and we were happily went on our way to find the source of the music that everyone was doing their morning activity to. This turned out to be 4 old men with Erhu (a kind of single stringed violin) flutes and an instrument that looks like a cross between a machine gun and a pipe organ. When the flute player asked Kevin if Kelly was a student, she promptly made him ask the man to guess her age, as she was still dizzy from the high of 24 she received yesterday. When he guessed '23', she clapped happily.
Walking along the tranquil grounds, we came across an enormous bell, that for the mere sum of 5 yuan (£0.34/$0.63) one can ring 6 times for luck and prosperity. Kelly rang three times, then handed off to Christian for the remaining three, the lot of which we filmed for some reason.
Since we had time and had shown such a fascination for Chinese art, Kevin decided to take us to the Tang Dynasty Arts Museum (Tangdai Yishu Bowuguan), that is located right beside the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (which we didn’t visit). We were greeted by our museum guide, Rose, who was 5'2 and just about the cutest thing. She spoke wonderful English, and with a charming wit and wonderful sense of humor taught us about the rich history of the Tang dynasty, which ruled from the 7th to the 10th century AD. She also instructed us on the ancient art of Chinese calligraphy; introducing us to the brush, ink, and rice paper, which isn’t made from rice at all but from elm and bamboo.
Whilst looking at the spectacular works of art on display, Kelly fell in love with a set of four paintings, done by master artists of the area, that represented the four great beauties of Chinese history: Xi Shi, Diao Chan, Zhao Jun and the magnificent Lady Yang. At 400 yuan each, they were way out of our budget for any one item. However, Christian knew Kelly couldn’t be happy without them, so we bought all four for 1600 yuan (£110/$203). We double-checked with Kevin to ensure that Rose received commission from this sale, as we were so happy with her and wanted her to benefit from our visit.
Satisfied with our purchase, Mr. Lu then drove us to the Xi'an Art Ceramics & Lacquer Factory. This is where many of the lacquered wooden screens, tables, dressers and artpieces are produced. It also is the main producer of Terracotta Warrior replicas. There, we were led through the factory by a guide who showed us the difference between the warriors (General, Officer, Cavalry with horse, and the archer.)
We were then driven to lunch, which was in a large building were many tourists are taken between excursions. Luckily, we received a table for just the two of us as usual, and feasted on mushroom broth, beef and onion, vegetables, rice, and the most astounding caramelised potatoes.
We finished lunch early, and because we didn’t buy anything from the shop set out for our next destination: The Terracotta Warriors Museum outside Xi'an. We drove past miles of pomegranate trees, with many people at the roadside with baskets full of them. Each pomegranate is painstakingly wrapped in plastic bags, on the tree, to ensure that the insects don’t get to them first. The drive to the museum takes you through quite a depressed area of Xi'an.
In 1974, farmers digging a well discovered a clay head in their bucket, and the Terracotta Warriors were unearthed after 2000 years underground. 6000 warriors were created to forever stand guard over the tomb of the ancient megalomaniac Emperor Qin Shihuang. All but destroyed in antiquity during a peasant revolt, they are continuously being skillfully reconstructed by dedicated archeologists. Seeing them standing there, forever vigilant, it is easy to see why they are classified as the 8th Wonder of the World. When Christian first visited this site in 2001, photography of any kind was forbidden. However, they have relaxed this rule so he took a few hundred to catch up.
In one of the shops, we were advised that to have a life sized reproduction shipped to our home, with full insurance, would cost 15,000 yuan. They eventually came down to 8,000 yuan (£550/$1017), which is actually a great price to own something this grand. However, we really do not need a life-sized Chinese soldier in our house or garden so we decided against it (meaning, Kelly dragged Christian away kicking and screaming).
Whilst walking back through the enormous carpark, we were accosted by about 9 women selling baskets of pomegranates and persimmon. Much to our amusement, Kevin finally cracked and bought 5 pomegranates for the meagre price of 2 yuan. He quietly mumbled "It's a pretty good price" while we got into the car.
Around 4pm we returned back to the hotel in the exact city centre just long enough to drop off our lovely artworks and freshen for the remainder of our day. After Kelly changed into her blue silk Chinese blouse, we met Kevin in the lobby and walked out to the underground tunnel that goes under the street. We emerged by the giant Calvin Klein Trouser Ball, the area we dubbed Pants Plaza, walked up an alleyway, past the Drum Tower (Gu Lou), through a street market with many fruit vendors. Several of them had head scarves, which clearly indicated to us that we had entered the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an. Before we knew it, we were in the Grand Mosque, a fully functioning place of worship for the cities fairly considerable Chinese-Islamic population.
While we quietly pondered the beauty of the calming scenery, we were enveloped by an all too familiar sound. It was the Muslim Call to Prayer, and we had not heard this sound since our honeymoon in Morocco. We walked through the grounds quickly following the many men in white caps who raced to the far end prayer hall. After they left their shoes at the door, they hastened in to join their comrades in the age old tradition of prayer towards Mecca. We didn’t ask, but we would imagine that in this case, they face West.
Much to Kelly's chagrin, we had to move quickly through the market to ensure we got back to Mr. Lu at the hotel by 5:30. We arrived exactly on time, and jumped in the car for our evening entertainment. Christian had arranged with Kevin to ensure we attended a dinner show as a surprise for Kelly, so she really had no idea what to expect. We arrived at the Shaanxi Grand Opera House where we were absolutely dumbstruck by the magnificence of the Tang Dynasty Song and Dance show. It is a spectacular display of Chinese music and dance technique the likes of which Kelly had never before seen. We sat comfortably at our table drinking green tea and rice wine (which tastes suprisingly like warm apple cider). We could not recommend this show enough; it is breathtakingly beautiful. When the show finished to an enthusiastic ovation, dinner was then served at our table. We had a feast of dumplings, so many dumplings, chicken dumplings, shrimp dumplings, bean dumplings, pineapple dumplings, vegetable dumplings, corn dumplings, until we were dumpling'd out and had to go. We met up with a waiting Kevin who took us back to Mr. Lu. He went home via bus from the theatre, so Mr. Lu returned us back to our hotel. We exchanged £55 for 800 Yuan, and went out one more time to re-explore the market by the Mosque we only caught a glimpse of earlier. Dessert for Christian was a chocolate sundae at McDonalds, and we were back at our hotel by 10pm to pack. This was by far one of the most amazing days we have had here.