Museum of Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses

As with so many other places which I have only had the pleasure of reading about, they captivate my imagination, cultivate my dreams, these places fascinate so much of my waking consciousness and yet, my personal world is so very small! I go to work and drive through state after state and I feel like my personal world is fairly large but then when my mind is free to wonder and my imagination is calling me away from the moment I recall these images of vast walls, valleys far, far away and armies of perfect human replicas from days long gone and peoples long dead and I can’t find a good answer for why I have not even applied for a passport so that should the moment ever sweep me away, I could find my feet on fabulous shores and maybe for a while I could feel a little bit more alive, and such an experience would surely continue to pay me it’s dividends for the rest of my life!

Very neat place—still much reconstruction to be done.

To clear up an earlier statement that implied the discoverers who sign books at the site may not have been authentic.

There were three farmers who discovered the terracotta warriors. None were given any compensation when the government took over their land nor were they paid anything for their discovery. Due to a settlement in a prolonged legal battle , they are now allowed to sign books for a fee at the site. They usually are in different areas of the complex. It is certainly an unique experience to meet them.The book are not all that expensive and they charge the equivalent of two US dollars to sign and stamp the book. There’s usually a line but the farmer I met was very friendly and reacted quite favorably to my feeble attempts to speak Chinese.

Although I went xi an 5 year ago, I still remember many beautiful view there. Qian shi huan who is the firest most pownful king in China, build his largest tone.we also can see many old chinese meterals here. this is a good place you should go if you go to China.

As we were walking back to our bus we were met with a man who asked if we wanted to buy a box of little terracotta warriors. Since they were so much cheaper than the ones the actual shops we decided to get a box. Then the rest of our tour group caught up and they all wanted a box too. In the end our group ended up buying nearly 20 boxes from this guy, who just kept reaching into his jacket and other clothing and bringing out more and more boxes of soldiers. Mind you, these boxes are not small. There were 5 dolls per box, and each figure is three inches tall. Amazing, this guy!

I was simply dumbstruck by the Terracotta Warriors in Xian. They are one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen and I found it hard to drag myself away after spending a day there. The warriors were discovered in 1974 by local peasants digging a water-well. The underground vault holds thousands of life-size terracotta soldiers and horses in battle formation. The First Emperor of the Qin dynasty (Qin Shi Huang) commissioned local workers to construct the Warriors in order to guard his tomb. Each warrior is completely different in dress and physical appearance. It is speculated that the workers modeled the warriors after themselves. Definately a must see if you are traveling in China.
We also spent a little time at the Emperor’s Tomb but were somewhat disappointed as the tomb is not open to the public. The tomb is located deep in a hillside, and has a zoo and several burial chambers, plus a lake. However, to date it hasn’t been opened. It’s booby-trapped with high levels of mercury and they haven’t figured out a way to get into it!
A tip for the adventuresome – We opted to take a mini-bus to the site instead of going with a tour group. You’ll save yourself well over 300 RMB if you take this route. You can catch it outside the train station

Great place to visit – so much history it’s almost devastating. Took a guide near the entrance – 100 Yuan for the 8 of us, she spoke English pretty well.

Like almost all the guides in China, they make commission off the stuff you buy. They will steer you to a very nice shop with VERY nice VERY VERY expensive stuff. The statues here are “made with the real clay from pit 2” and can be “certified”. There is another place on site that sells the same statues (as far as I can tell) for a third. Anything you get here, you can buy in the cities (for example at HangQio in Beijing) for maybe a 10th the price. I got a 20” one for under 100 kuai ($12)

The “Original Farmer” who found the statues is ‘sometimes’ available to sign books. The books aren’t cheap. I saw the “original farmer” in 2 different buildings the same day, two very different looking “original farmers”. No pictures allowed of the farmer. I’ll upload one later.

Don’t let the enormous commercialism deter you. This place really is amazing. Pit 1 and 3 are great – pit 2 was ok, very little excavation there.

What’s better than a complete life-sized army made out of stone (around 8000 in all) rediscovered in the 1970’s after 2200 years? It makes me wonder what else awaits discovery…

amazing place, like pyramid in China. It’s perfect if I have a closer look, even touch it. ;-)