A Chinese Soldier Made Me Cry!

Well, not just one, thousands actually.  And not exactly soldiers, more like Warriors – Terracotta Warriors to be exact!  Let me explain.. As you may know I was lucky enough to be asked to go on a fact finding trip for our Grand Tour of China Bucket List holiday.  This included a trip to Xian, to see the Terracotta Army.  As this was definitely one to tick off of my personal Bucket List, I couldnt wait to finally see close up and personal, something I had only really dreamed about!

So after an early start and about an hour’s coach ride, depending on traffic, which is always heavy, we arrived!  The site area is huge, so I highly recommend comfortable walking shoes, as we had a 30 minute walk from the coach park to the Entrance to the Ticket office!  Many visitors both Chinese and overseas tourists flock to this  historic area, and the place was packed!  It was also a very hot day, so I would recommend a hat, sun cream, and plenty of water.  If you have walking difficulties, you can hire a wheelchair for around £10 an hour.

So after another half hour or so walk we arrived at Pit 1.  This is the most popular out of 3 on site, and where all of the iconic photos are taken.  Our Guide Jason, told us that this was the burial ground for the  Emperor Qin Shi Huang and his army to protect and escort him to the Afterlife.  This huge area was actually discovered by accident by a Farmer in 1974  who was digging a well, and dug down far enough to uncover one of the Warrior’s heads!  Once excavation of the site began, over 6000 warriors, horses, chariots were uncovered that are over 2000 years old! They are life-like and life-sized, and modelled on the individual warrior’s faces, and arranged in a battle formation.

The pit which covers 16,000sqmtrs was officially opened to the public on 01st October 1979, China’s Independence day as decreed by Chairman Mao.

So ‘armed’ with all this knowledge, I made my way up the stairs to see for myself this ancient spectacle.  Once I had fought through the masses of people and clambered to the front of the balcony, I was totally overwhelmed and overcome at the sight of the Warriors below me.  So much so that I was moved to tears, and completely unable to speak.   It really is a vision of beauty, and something you must see at least once in your life!  I just stared and stared at the individual faces of the Warriors, stood to attention and ready to defend their Emperor.  The horses were also lifelike,  which made the scene all the more majestic.

We were shown an area at the back of the pit where recently excavated Warriors, which had been damaged, were being renovated. Jason called it the Warrior Hospital, which made me chuckle!

He also showed us more huge pits which were yet to be excavated, which hold thousands more Warriors, the scale of the army is beyond my imagination.

There’s not alot of places I’ve visited  that bring me to tears, although standing on the Great Wall of China did, as did my first sight of the Aurora Borealis.  The Terracotta Army is another I can add to my list. The memory of that day will stay with me always.

Here’s a video of inside Pit 1:   https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=d00c1a2c09&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-a:r8945164349524746236&th=1661af4856d0eefb&view=att&disp=safe&realattid=1661af2349c9ac2949e1