I have been on the road for two weeks and have managed a few scenic detours. I went to a great museum in Xi'an with clay pots and water jugs dating from 3000BC....wow. And I was impressed that the Chinese had wine jugs (ornate, animal shaped ones) over 2000 years ago.
I have also been to see the Terracotta warriors. I'm loath to rave about them too much as they have received so much publicity recently, but they were spectacular. I'll spare you the history lesson since wiki can probably do a better job than me, but Emperor Qin Shihuang (the emperor famed for unifying China) had in excess of 270,000 people work for 4 decades to create his tomb about 2000 years ago. The tomb itself covers something like 56 square kilometres. The terracotta warriors are just part of this tomb and you have to wonder what else is lying in state under the urban sprawl (most of the tomb hasn't been excavated).
44 years after the discovery of the warriors, excavation is still not complete and in places it resembled some kind of bizarre mass grave with bits of clay people strewn all over the place.
Like most things in China, the scale is difficult to comprehend.
One thing I hadn't banked on was these little chariots. After all the hype surrounding the warriors it was nice to have a little surprise in the museum. They are half size, solid and adorned with silver and gold and buried complete with spare parts in case of breakdown(!)...generally super super cute.
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