Zhao Zheng came to power as king of the Qin region at just 13 years old in 259BC. By the age of 38 he had conquered all of the other warring states in what we now know as China, and proclaimed himself Emperor Qin Shu Hang (emperor being a new term that he came up with). As well as unifying the states, he also unified their defensive walls into a single 'Great Wall', and built a massive national road system, unified the language, measurement systems and currency. His capital was Xi'an.
Xi'an was also important for being the start of the silk road, a great trading route between China, India and Europe. As well as trade goods travelling along the road, other valuable things like books did too. The Great Wild Goose Pagoda was built in Xi'an (645AD) to securely house the many Buddhist scriptures and relics brought back along the road. It is special as it is a brick building, to reduce the chance of fires destroying the books.
Turtles all the way up!
Great Wild Goose Pagoda
Arty photo looking up inside the GWGP.
It is very impressive to look at, though there's very little inside it now. You do get a decent view out across the city from the top too.
Variety of anthropomorphic animals with weapons
No clue what this is.
I thought the camels looked incredibly jolly
From the top
Elephant statue, a reminder of the Silk Road trade
Another remnant of the silk road trade is Xi'an's Muslim Quarter, a whole network of busy shopping streets, now selling every type of street food and souvenir available. A lot of the street food did not look that appetizing to me, but I did sample a few delights!
Pigs trotters - I did not sample these
Whole grilled squid and battered soft shell crab. I did not sample these either.
More artistic pigs trotters. Still not tempted to sample
CAKE!!! (Of course I sampled this!)
Xi'an Burger - slow cooked pork or beef in a bun. Tasty.
Many breads.
Like a toffee apple, but with strawberries. Yum.
Flash frozen rice puff balls. Not particularly tasty, but you can blow cold steam!
This shop did not entice me. "Cat Uncle Explosion Cheese Durian Pie"
The city walls of Xi'an have been kept in good repair since they were built in the 1300's, and are some of the oldest and best preserved city walls in China if not the world. At night the walls are beautifully lit up. By day, weWe cycled around 3/4's of them on the 15 meter wide top, seeing all of the main gates into the city and getting a great view of the city.
The Bell Tower
From the walls
Thi chi, or possibly line dance practice.
No idea why they were dressed up, but they looked impressive
Yes, yes, I'm getting there!
One of the traditions of Chinese kings is for them to build their own tomb before they die. Emperor Qin was no exception to this tradition, and as would be appropriate for the man who united China, built himself a city sized tomb, guarded by a full sized army of terracotta warriors. These army lay undiscovered for around 2000 years until they were rediscovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. They were originally brightly painted and every one of them is unique. Much of the army remains undisturbed, but estimates have been made that there are over 8000 warriors, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. Cavalry were very important in Zhao Zeng's conquering of the rest of china, so it's understandable that they are well represented in the terracotta army.
Pit 3, the big one!
I think the gap used to have a chariot
Some warriors lost their heads a little
Every one is unique. Each sculptor made only 2 or 3 statues each, and each is signed,
Who is that handsome devil!
Either reconstruction, or terracotta bondage.
More reconstruction, or kinkyness
Putting the horses back together again
Bronze chariot and horses
Not only Warriors, but dogs too
and sheep, and goats
and cows and horses and chickens!
Archer
As well as the animals, there were also non-warriors, including musicians, scribes, cooks, and others.
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