Xmas at Jiuzhaigou, and on to the ancient rd of silk & honey!

So after completing some end of 2008 work tasks- e.g. writing an article for the local magazine, it was time to head off traveling again making the most of a visit by a friend from Australia and the winter lull at the park to tick off a few more of China's many interesting sites.
But not before a emphatic final hoorah of the eve of departure- with a Christmas party in our apartment, local Tibetan, Chinese colleague and Chengdu expat friends all in attendance. My roomate Kieran had bought decorations from Chengdu to add to the christmas feel, and along with plenty of booze, snacks and party-day kitchen clambouring, it all seemed in order for a night of feasting, drink and merriment. On the night, our colleagues seemed to overcome their initial awkwardness and even stayed until after 10pm (a record for the apartment) while the tibetans and expats kicked on into the wee hours with darts, drinking games, bare-chested heavy lifting and bizarre cocktails. Our US marine guests, from the consulate in Chengdu, even eventually seemed to relax and enjoy themselves though i and others sensed they bore some mental scars from their tours in Iraq.
My head was thumping madly at 6.25am when i woke up and had to frantically pack my bag for our bus leaving for Chengdu at 7am (luckily i packed enough underwear and able to nick a toothbrush from the hotel in Chengdu...). The 10-hour journey with my friend Sherry seems to have passed in a blur, i think i was still drunk most of the way, as the hungover didnt really strike until the evening (not sure if that's healthy....).
My mission in Chengdu was to buy a nice new camera, as my last camera had mysteriously disappeared from my apartment a couple of weeks earlier. Shopped around and several bus rides and busy electronic markets later i had a beautiful canon 1000D in my hands for the not insignificant price of 4000CNY. For the next week i revelled in my new toy and took pics of many an obscure sight. That clicking shutter sound is just so satisfying....:)
so after 2 nights in Chengdu, i parted ways with my friend Sherry and headed off by 15-hour, hard sleeper train to Xi'an. A pleasant enough journey, i was greeted in the morning upon exiting the station with the sight of the tall, thick and grey city walls and biting cold, encrusted icy ground of Xi'an. After negotiating the touts and peddlers, i started marching the streets until i found a cheap hostel and a private room.
With the city walls, tall tang dynasty pagodas and ancient drum and bell towers all prominent landmarks amongst the modern street and glittering skyscrapers, Xi'an is a city that seems to capture the cliched duality of ancient and modern as well as any other city in China. There's lots to see within the city itself, such as the Muslim quarter markets and great mosque while outside the city are the ornately glorified tombs of a number of ancient emperors, and the world famous terracotta warriors. This is because going back to the Qin until the Tang dynasties it was the capital of China, important city of the world and Eastern terminus of the Silk Road, the city known in those days as Chang-an.
One of the highlights of Xi'an is definitely the Big Goose Pagoda. This Tang Dynasty pagoda, built 1300 years ago, was built to house Buddhist sutras and relics brought back from India by the famous monk Xuanzang. The area around the temple has been developed into a well-planned public space of squares, gardens, cultural relics shopping, old-style architecture, being both grand yet people-friendly, modern & convenient yet with a clear historic feel. At the base of the pagoda is the Xuan Zang temple, will smooth, elegant architecture, numerous prayer halls and colourful mosiacs of the Buddha's life- resembling those one sees in temples of SE Asia rather than usual Chinese temples. Xuanzang's journey to India is the origin of the famous 'Journey to the West' story (remember Monkey & Pigsy...) that i loved to watch on TV in Australia as a child. It really was a sense of 'completing the circle' to come and visit this place, such an important site in the history of Buddhism and China-India relations, a energy centre in the 'spirit of Asia'. I had always been attracted to the Eastern philosophies, stimulated by watching 'monkey' on TV as a child, and much later by living in SE Asia ('Indo-China') for a number of years, i knew this was an important place and was glad the authorities had developed the area to honour those teachings and it's place in human history.
The same day, i visited the Eight immortals temple- dedicated to Taoism and the 8 sacred deities that have developed as part of those teachings over the years. These 8 folks were real people whose feats during life were so renowned that years later they were taken to be immortals and the mythology around them continued to develop. This temple was built in the hope that these immortals, being honoured as such, would use their magical powers to quell the 'subterranean divine thunder' that was menacing Xi'an. We can surmise that this 'divine thunder' must likely relate to the earthquakes that Chang'an experienced during it's history. The most famous of those being a huge quake in 1556 in which the Big goose pagoda, now 7 stories high, was reduced from its previous height of 10 stories by the rumblings. The small goose padoga was also damaged in the same earthquake and its stands unrepaired until today. This timetable also fits in with the age of the temple which was said to be built late in the 16th century.
On my final day in Xi'an i had the chance to make the 34km journey east of the city to the world heritage site of the terracotta warriors, or Bingmayong in Chinese (literally, soldier & horse statues). This place is one of the main tourist attractions of China and draws a huge crowds of locals and foreigners alike. After marching in, dodging the tour guide touts and swifting a student entry ticket, it was time to be somewhat swept away by shoving crowds in the relic museum (see below), before i headed in the 3 pits that display the masterfully clay-moulded relics of ancient China.
Pit 1 is the hugest of the 3, taking up more than 14,000 sqm, and is filled with the remains of more than 6000 warriors, of which more than 1000 have been restored into upright positions in parallel rows, the entire pit encircled by a line of outward facing sentries. The rest of the statues are still buried under the visible original covering of woven mats and wooden beams which have decayed over centuries. As you may have heard, each of the warriors is uniquely sculpted, with differing facial expressions, hair and dress styles, even unique boot treads! This artistic effort is said to have been necessary to create the lifelike reality of human individuals that would then allow the warriors to come to life and accompany the deceased emperor as his armies in the afterlife.
The epic effort required to build these warriors, which are only a sideshow to the main tomb, inside an unexcavated hill nearby (said to contain palaces of treasure, booby traps & rivers of mercury...), is testament to the massive ego of the Qin emperor (and founder of the dynasty) Qin Shi Huang, the authoritiarian system of government that he created (allowing him to amass huge resources for such pet projects) and his profound fear of what awaited him in the afterlife.
The Qin dynasty, though short lived (221-206BC), is very famous for establishing the centralised and bureaucratic state that allowed emperors to control a vast and diverse Chinese Empire, the same style that succeeded on in successive dynasties until modern day. The name Qin is even said to be the origin of the European name 'China' (q is prononced like ch in Chinese), which bears no relation to the Chinese name for themselves 'zhongguo' (middle kingdom).
The smaller pits contain more horses and archers, with the small pit said to be the army headquarters- containing many high-ranking officers distinguished by their elaborate head wear. In the pits themselves it is not possible to get up-close to the statues, but a few on display in cabinets around Pit 2 give some impression of the level of detail the craftsmen created in armour, footwear, hair and beard styles, subtle facial expression and even the nature-like shape of the accompanying horses bodies. Chariot wheels are also visible, and 2 life-size solid bronze chariots complete with horses and drivers (still solid after more than 2000 years) that were excavated nearby are on display in the relic museum.
It was slightly humourous to see, displayed proudly at various strategic locations around the site, info and announcements that proclaim the Terracotta warriors 'said to be' the 'eight wonder of the world'. Maybe this is another one of those lost in translation cultural misunderstandings- Thought it is a wondrous place- but i don't really get how that claim can mean anything unless we are told- by whom was this said???... which of course they don't! Could have been any random schmo in which case why are they quoting them here...And many others could make this claim.. I'd guess the Chinese were a little miffed at being left out of the traditional 7-wonders, and this is a quiet rebellion.. As a marketing technique i'm not sure if that grandstanding style will work so well on the more sophisticated western tourists as it does for the Chinese tour group masses.... Did i mention the bustling mosh pit in the relic museums (hav a look my photos on facebook to check it out- not much chance for scholarly appreciation while getting shoved around- no.1 rule- don't be shy to shove back).
This post seems to be long enough!
Next time (not so long to wait) i'll describe the much fun bar-hopping and lantern launching events of New Years in Xi'an and the unfortunate deft-handed criminal attack of which i was a victim just b4 departing the city, before moving on to the sights and smells of the journey to and exploration of the vast 10+ million city of Chongqing.....