(Chris)
Before I explain the title of this blog entry, I'd like to first just re-visit what Lizzy probably talked about in her post. We had the opportunity to visit two small villages outside of the city of Dali a few days ago and these visits were very memorable for me. The people of these villages are of mostly Bai descent (one of the 56 minority groups within China). They were probably the nicest people I've ever met in my life!! The women of the village invited us to a wedding reception and to their temple while a group prayer was in session. In the pictures, these women are easily identifiable by their beautiful, ornate headdresses. Our tour guide, Nancy, was also of Bai descent and is the most pleasant person you will ever meet! (She's the one force-feeding Ryan at the temple.) She was so happy and proud to share her culture with us and it was an honor to be invited to such special events within this community. Please look through our pictures to get a glimpse of a culture that truly exemplifies what it means to be a good human being!!
Now, let me explain the title of this blog entry ...
We are now in Xi'an - a city of roughly 8 million people. This is about the same number of people that live in all 5 boroughs of New York City. It's huge, but it's not the biggest in China. I would categorize it as a medium-sized city by Chinese standards. We arrived yesterday and our tour guide introduced himself and I thought he told me his name was Ku. So, we were calling him Ku all evening. Then, before going to bed, he wrote down his name and phone number on some cards for us in case we needed him for anything. We learned that his name is not Ku, but actually Cool. That's right...Cool. Cool is very knowledgeable about Xi'an's history. He's a very pleasant man with a relaxed and 'chill' demeanor - his name fits him perfectly.
We are now in Xi'an - a city of roughly 8 million people. This is about the same number of people that live in all 5 boroughs of New York City. It's huge, but it's not the biggest in China. I would categorize it as a medium-sized city by Chinese standards. We arrived yesterday and our tour guide introduced himself and I thought he told me his name was Ku. So, we were calling him Ku all evening. Then, before going to bed, he wrote down his name and phone number on some cards for us in case we needed him for anything. We learned that his name is not Ku, but actually Cool. That's right...Cool. Cool is very knowledgeable about Xi'an's history. He's a very pleasant man with a relaxed and 'chill' demeanor - his name fits him perfectly.
Today, Cool was at our hotel at 9:00 a.m. sharp to take us around (and outside) the city for what was a pretty long day for us. First, he explained the history of Xi'an and how its history goes back thousands of years. One interesting fact that we learned is that it was the eastern endpoint of the Silk Road. It was also the capital of China under several dynasties. History buffs would have a field day here!!
Our first stop was a museum dedicated the history of the Banpo village from the Neolithic age. This artifacts from this village are over 6,000 years old!! It was accidentally discovered in the 1950s and is now a valuable window into the early days of human civilization in what is now China. Fascinating stuff.
From there, we went out to see the Terracotta soldiers. Many of you may know about the history of these soldiers, but for those that don't, here's the Cliff Notes version. Some 2,200 years ago, a Qin Emperor had 720,000 people work for 38 years to create a mausoleum for him - this guy obviously thought he was pretty special. In addition to the mausoleum, he wanted an underground army to protect him/serve under him during the after life. So, he had people create thousands of terracotta (clay-based ceramic) life-sized soldiers, generals and officers. These figures were put in underground pits and when the emperor died, they sealed off all these pits. However, they were all mostly destroyed by years of wars/invasions and were left to be forgotten about forever. However, in the 1970's a group of farmers digging a water well discovered some pieces of the terracotta soldiers. What they found was to be an archaeologist's dream come true! For the past 30-40 years, archaeologists have painstakingly put the destroyed soldiers back together and now have many of them on display at the original site of their discovery (as seen in the pics). Only a fraction of them have been unearthed - there are many that are still buried. It was explained to us that they're waiting for some more advances in technology before they unearth the rest due to the fact that some of them still have the original paint/colors and this color fades away almost immediately when unearthed. Until they figure out a way to dig them out and preserve the original colors, they'll remain buried.
After leaving the excavation site, I enjoyed watching Colin, Ryan and Lizzy barter when buying souvenirs. Today, they wanted to buy some mini terracotta soldier replicas. They were hopping back and forth between street vendors trying to get the best deal. At one point, they had the employees of one store cracking up. Colin had a good exchange going with one man and managed to drop the price by almost 75%. I give them a lot of credit - bartering is not my thing. I give one price back and if they don't accept it, I give up. I'm just not good at that kind of stuff. Next time I buy a car, I'm taking these three with me.
After these fascinating insights into China's past, we then went to the opera house for a dumpling feast and a music & dance performance. We were served a new round of dumplings every 5 minutes or so. Some of the fillings we tried were shark fin, duck, pork, tomato & carrot, pickles and fish. Shortly after we finished dinner, we then were able to watch some folk dances from the various dynasties throughout China's history. It was great!
One thing that has been evident is that there is a big difference in theater etiquette compared with the U.S. When we go to the movies or to the theater in the U.S., we expect the audience to be quiet and to applaud (with at least some enthusiasm) at appropriate times. It's very different here. This was our second theater experience here and it is hard to enjoy the performance with all the noice and chatter that goes on around you. During the first performance we saw in Lijiang, people were talking very loudly for the first 20 minutes or so. People were shuffling in late trying to figure out their seats, making sandwiches with the supplies they brought in plastic bags, talking on their cell phones, etc... It made me feel a little anxious, but the noise level finally leveled out - moderately. When scenes/acts ended, the applause from the audience is rather weak. It's just a quick little clap and then back to the chatter. We experienced the same today. It was annoying, but you learn to accept the fact that it's a different culture and things run their own way.
One more week until we arrive in Hangzhou. This has been one wild ride - looking forward to more adventures.
Hope you're all doing well. Miss you!
1 comment:
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!
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