Transcendental Terracotta

(Mel)

As someone with a keen interest in ceramics, today’s activities were so awesome I’m still not totally convinced it happened. Seeing as yesterday’s flight got delayed by six hours we had a late start for our first full day in Xi’an but nevertheless (and not surprisingly) we were able to cram in lots of sight-seeing. The day was essentially a voyage to the terra cotta army but we made a few stops along the way.
Our first stop was the site of an excavated village from around 6,000 years ago. Our guide, Richard, informed us that the village consists of three areas; the dwelling area, the graveyard, and the pottery making area. While it’s already mind-blowing enough to be looking at the remains of where and how people lived thousands of years ago, it’s even more unbelievable to see that the central activity of their village is something that is very important to my own life as well. Whole sections of the museum were devoted to showing off the ceramic pieces made six thousand years ago by the villagers themselves. Since they did not have pottery wheels they made their pots and bowls using a coil-pot technique (something I’m sure anyone who has taken any art class involving ceramics has been taught). I have made coil pots- people living in China 6,000 years ago made coil pots. That’s just crazy to think about. Due to the fact that ceramics was, save for a few stone tools, all that these people had, most of the pottery was very utilitarian, but some of the pieces were decorated. The sculptors 6,000 years ago had used whatever textured items they’d had (such as rope, sticks, or woven mats) as texture tools to create designs on their pottery. A selection of a few motifs were also used often in painted designs, most of which were either geometric or resembled fish or human-like faces. One of the most fascinating things was that a lot of the pottery I could see as something people would still like to buy for their homes today. We also got to see the remains of the kilns the people of Banpo village used.

After visiting the village excavation site we went to a pottery making studio to see how the replicas of the terra cotta soldiers are made. Unfortunately, the artisits had all left by the time we arrived but we were still allowed into the workshop to walk around and see the steps of the process. Much like the original army itself, the bodies and hands of the soldiers were made from molds while the heads were sculpted individually. At the studio the replicas are also often glazed either in solid black o they may be colored (as the originals once were when they were first made).

Lunch was the next stop on our agenda and we were in for a bit of a surprise. Upon entering the restaurant we were informed that they do not serve foreigners. While we all know we certainly don’t blend in, the typical tourist treatment is to be swarmed by vendors or beckoned towards restaurants--not to be denied service. According to the restaurant, (and I don’t dispute it), locals eat more than Westerners so they’re worried about us not spending enough money. Still it seems strange that they’d rather have no business than foreign business (there were only a few parties seated at the restaurant when we showed up) but it was all resolved by Richard’s persuasive skills anyways and we had a lovely lunch (and left even more stuffed than usual in an attempt to prove ourselves).

After lunch we arrived at our final destination of the day- the terra cotta army itself. I couldn’t believe after seeing photos of the site for years that I was actually looking at the real terra cotta army. Following the arrow leading to “Pit One” revealed a nearly foot-ball field sized room with a curved ceiling and lines of windows providing ample natural lighting. A dozen corridors separated from one another by thick clay walls housed row after row of over 1,000 life-sized clay soldiers in perfect battle formation. Behind these first thousand lay the scattered remains of the rest of the army, almost making it seem as though they really did fight a battle and paid a heavy toll. Beyond the wreckage were empty pits as well as many other soldiers in the midst of being pieced back together by archeologists such as the thousand standing guard at the entrance to the room were. Hundreds of years ago, in an act against the Emperor who had the terra cotta army built to protect himself in death, rebels broke into every single one of the pits and destroyed the army, leaving the pieces scattered on the floor and taking the real bronze weapons from the fake soldiers.

Pit Two had fewer soldiers in it and was a very different set up. Rather than being in fight formation these figures were generals facing one another as if discussing tactics. It’s believed that this room would be the generals headquarters and not only was the increased status (from those in the first pit) shown through their clothing but the bodies and faces of the men themselves, which looked more mature.

I was completely blown away by the sculptor’s extreme attention to detail. Everything from the treads on the bottom of their shoes to the combed texture of the soldiers hair (in different styles) was astoundingly life-like and beautifully balanced. The bodies and hands were made from molds, but that does not make them unimpressive by any means. Their hands look as though they are truly flesh and not made of clay. Their tiled armor shows the rows of tiles overlapping in the proper way as to theoretically allow full range of motion for the soldiers. Their clothing catches in life-like folds and creases in all the right places to look like fabric. And of course each face was different, physically, proportionately, and emotionally. I’ll cut off my description here because if I don’t there’s no telling when I’ll stop.