"Hey Steve, You Won't Believe What I Found!!!"

Rows and rows of soldiers

  My friends I apologize for the blog being late this week, but I have a good reason.  I was in Xi'an coaching golf and had an extremely busy schedule.  This last week has been such a whirlwind that I haven't had time to give you an update.  So, I hope you enjoy the story of what happened this week and the culmination of a week that my family is soon not to forget.  This will be the first installment of a two part series.

SCHOOL:  Well, this week at school was rather interesting.  It was the last week for us and we had many things to do to prepare for our leave taking.  My end was rather uneventful.  I taught up until Friday and just said goodbye to my students and teacher friends.  There was much sharing of email addresses and promises of getting together sometime in the future with the teaching staff.  To be honest the feeling from the administration was more like, "Whew, thank goodness the trouble maker is leaving".  In the end, I guess I just didn't get a grasp of what teaching in China is all about.  When you are asked to help and give an opinion, they don't really expect you to answer.
  Now I don't want to leave you with a negative impression.  The experience here has been wonderful and life changing.  I also don't regret making the decision to come here for a moment.  China is wonderful and in a later edition I am going to share the things that I believe I have learned.
  Cecelia on the other hand had a great week.  She finished her assessments and then the teachers threw a party for her.  As the guest of honor she was treated to an outstanding meal and was treated like the Queen of first grade.  Her crowning glory was a string of pearls that was her parting gift.  Cecelia made quite an impression this year and was loved by the staff.  I teased her a little after her party, because she had been giving me a hard time about my easy schedule this year.  I told her that an easy schedule was my reward and a string of pearls was hers.  In all honesty, I consider my wife to be one of the best teachers I have ever met.  I am constantly inspired by her energy and creativity.  One final note, from what we understand the teachers in primary don't do this normally for leaving foreign teachers.  This just shows what kind of impact she made.
  For the girls it was a week of ups and downs.  They were up because like all school kids their school year was coming to an end.  The two of them also had an additional motivation, because with the end of school comes our return to America.  They are very excited about their homecoming.

Tay doing her best to sell Yosemite to Chinese tourists

  On the down side, this was really their first goodbye that had some sort of permanence to it.  At the end of the week there were many tears, because they were saying goodbye to teachers and friends that they may never see again.  This made a huge impact on them.  It was a realization that they have never experienced before.  Unlike living in Oakhurst and knowing that we would be returning, this had a finality to it that they didn't expect.  They were also very upset about leaving their friends the Madsens.  Even though the Madsens live in the United States, they had the feeling that they wouldn't see each other again.  We assured them that we would get together back in the States, but it still took some time to get over their sadness.  They didn't finally settle down until we were in Xi'an and they could use modern technology to Facetime each other.  They have grown to understand that the world is really a small place when you can communicate so readily.  This is unlike when my brothers and I grew up going to 19 different schools and moving from state to state.  We had snail mail and it really was difficult to communicate through the mail.  This meant as a boy I actually had to write by hand on paper.  Can you imagine?!!!!

ADVENTURES:  We began our adventure to Xi'an by rushing off to the airport right after school on Friday.  Our friend Sam dropped us off at the metro station and it took us about an hour and a half to get to the airport.  We arrived in plenty of time and met my friend James. 
  James is my friend from America that has worked with me in The First Tee at home.  He is also from Taiwan and knows China very well.  He was the reason we were making this extra trip to Xi'an.  His friends had arranged for us to teach the golf camp together.
  Anyway, after we met James and checked in my golf clubs, we were met with another delay.  It seems like common practice at the Guangzhou airport; too many people, too many planes going in all different directions.  Our two hour delay was due to air traffic congestion this time.  So, we ended up leaving Guangzhou at close to 11 pm.  We landed in Xi'an at 1 am.  It seems like a new habit for us to fly late and then arrive late at our destination.  Like I have written before, everything is an adventure in China.  Or better yet, everything is an adventure when you travel with us.  We finally got to bed around 3 am.

All 6 ft. tall

  The next morning we didn't have to be up at a particular time.  Our hosts for the week told us that we just needed to call them when we got up and were ready to go.  James had made arrangements for us to go to the site of the Terra Cotta Soldiers.  After a quick breakfast of chicken sandwiches at KFC, we met the other coach that was going to be working with us during the week.  His name is Jason and he runs a golf learning center in downtown Xi'an, but I will tell you more about him in detail during the next blog.
  The site for the Terra Cotta Soldiers is about an hour and a half outside of the city itself.  Once we arrived, we were met by an official from the site.  Apparently Jason had pulled a few strings and we were going to have a private tour in English.  The facility for the soldiers is a massive park like facility.  There are three pits that are surrounded by a beautiful courtyard that has fountains, statues and restaurants.  Outside of that there are acres and acres of walkways and paths that meander through pines and poplars.
  Our tour began in Pit 1.  Pit 1 is a massive area covered with a blimp hangar sized building.  The building covering pit one is so large that we had to have Cecelia take a panoramic picture to get it all in the frame.  Pit 1 is also the main site of the current archeological work.  This site is the one that you see in typical pictures of The Terra Cotta Soldiers.  There are soldiers standing in lines with broken soldiers behind them.  Pit one is the site in which the archeologists put the soldiers back together.  It is kind of like a real life Humpty Dumpty story.  The back of the site consists of a large flat area in which the soldiers are either standing or lying down while being put back together.  Once the archeologists get all of the pieces together for a soldier, they put them back in the pit where they were originally located.  The pit is about 9 ft. deep and has row after row of soldiers.  We learned that the soldiers in this pit were the front line of defense.  Many people believe the Chinese to be small in general, but things must have changed with time.  To be in this army you had to be a minimum of 6 ft. tall.
 

All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put...............

Pit 2 is smaller and has a lot less excavation.  The archeologists are going slower and making new discoveries all the time.  Due to their advances in technique,  the soldiers from Pit 2 have retained their original color better.  Also this part of the tour got us up close and personal with the soldiers.  They had three soldiers displayed in glass cases.  When you get close to the soldiers you get to see the amazing detail that went into them.  Even the hairs on their head are very detailed.  At this pit, I was happy to find out that even though I wouldn't make the height requirement, I would have been considered a good guy because I have a mustache.  If you didn't have a mustache, you were either a bad person or a criminal.  Every soldier has a mustache.  By the way,  every soldier has a unique face.  So far they have found over 1500 soldiers and it is only the tip of the archeological iceberg. There are also life sized horses in the pit as well.  The horses are spectacular in their detail and facial features.  One interesting thing that they found in Pit 2 was the only soldier that was entirely whole.  It is an archer and out of the hundreds of soldiers he is the only one without even a chink in his armor.
  You may be wondering at this point why the soldiers were broken.  It is not that the mud and dirt broke them, because they were originally enclosed in an underground building.  The destruction came from the following dynasty.  The conquering generals removed all of the weapons from the statues and then set the place on fire.  The destruction came from the ceiling collapsing on top of the soldiers.  You can still see remnants of the burned structures and wagon wheel imprints where they burned into the ground.

An archeologists dream job!!!!

  One final fact that I found interesting:  even though there are hundreds of things I could share with you, this one intrigued me.  It intrigued me because of the research and things that I have learned about China.  If the dynasties had not had the practice of trying to erase all history of the previous dynasty, China would have probably been one of the most technologically advanced civilizations in the world.  They had invented many things long before any of our cultures even thought of beginning.  For example, one of the swords they found was still razor sharp and had chrome alloy on it.  Germany supposedly perfected chrome technology in 1939.  The sword that was found in the pit was dated back to 3000 BC.  Let that fact sink in a little bit.
  Finally we made our way to Pit 3.  Pit 3 was similar to the two previous pits, but much smaller.  Yet, Pit 3 has a special importance to it.  This pit is where they found all of the emperor's generals.  They also believe Pit 3 to have the entrance to passages to the emperor's tomb, but they have not discovered them as of yet.
  After Pit 3 we headed to a gift shop in which we got a special treat.  The gift shop housed replicas of the Terra Cotta Soldiers made in the same compound the original soldiers were made.  It is the only licensed and certificated place in China to purchase them, so of course we had to pick up a couple of soveniers.  But, this is not the special treat that I alluded to earlier.  The special treat came in the form of the original man that discovered the soldiers in 1974.  He found them while trying to dig a well for his farming.  Since his discovery, he has been working with the site and been given a lifetime salary by the government.  Unlike in America in which people can own whatever they find on their property, China has a policy that any archeological find belongs to the people of China.  We had our picture taken with him and he signed our souvenir book.
 

Notice the mustache.  I have one of those.

One quick fact we learned that is hard to imagine is when this site was complete over 720,000 people died to keep the secret of the tomb and soldiers.  Everyone and anyone that worked on it were included in that number.
  We then made our way over to the Jade factory.  Apparently much of the really good jade comes from this area of China.  We were given a lesson on how to tell real jade from fake.  It was very interesting and informative.  So basically if you have any jade, put it up to a light.   If the light shines through and there are mineral deposits that look like flowers, it is real.  If it doesn't it is fake.  Also we learned that people wear jade because the body absorbs the good minerals over time.  Men are supposed to wear dark jade that looks almost black and it is supposed to be good for the heart.  Women are supposed to wear a lighter green and can wear it either on their right wrist to support lung health or on the left for heart health.  Kids are supposed to wear pink.  The pink supports healthy skin and complexion.
  After buying Cecelia a jade bracelet to support her heart, we headed out to find lunch.  We had a very nice lunch with our hosts and then went to one final place for site seeing. 
  Our final stop was at a place in which the Emperor from the Tang dynasty built a spa sanctuary for his favorite concubine.  He was so in love with this concubine that when it was complete he lived there with her for 11 years.  The entire place is designed around the concept of Fengshui and Ying/Yang.  I can tell you that I can see why he was attracted to the place, other than for his concubine.  It has mineral hot springs coming out of the ground in many places.  The pools also had varying temperatures and he built many of the pools to have open roofs so that he could look at the stars while sitting in the springs.  Kind of like having a Jacuzzi tub outside in our neck of the woods.  I mean kind of, because many of the spas were swimming pool sized.  He even built one spa for the chefs so that they could sit in the pools and be inspired to create culinary master pieces.  We even took a break and sat with our feet in one of the pools.  It was very hot, but refreshing.  I really felt like I had my Ying and Yang in order then.

The concubine dancing or the Emperor

  In later years when Cheng Kai Shek was fighting chairman Mao for power, he used the facility for his offices.  There are still bullet holes in the walls from where people were trying to assassinate him.
  One final note about this site.  Other than walking around in the heat and being tired we would have thought that it was just another cool historical site in China.  But our guide was very exuberant and excited about sharing with us the love story between the Emperor and his favorite concubine.  She shared with us that after the 11 years the Emperor left and was a better ruler after that.  I am not sure I believe her, because then the Tang dynasty was conquered by the Qing dynasty.  Makes you wonder if he had his Ying and Yang in order after all.  We did learn the significance of the Dragon and the Phoenix.  The Dragon represents power and the Emperor.  The Phoenix represents the Queen and control of the concubines.  The Lotus Flower represents all the concubines.
  We ended the day with a nice dinner back at the hotel and then went to bed.  I was going to have an early start to an incredibly busy week.
 

I have to be honest with you.  Going to the Terra Cotta Soldiers was not a priority on my want to see list when coming to China.  The thought of going to visit a place in which a single man had people build and sculpt things so that he could continue his glory in the afterlife just didn't interest me.  But after going, I am absolutely glad that I had the opportunity to experience such an amazing place.  It is hard to describe the feelings that I felt and I don't quite understand why I got a little teary eyed at one point, but it is hard to fathom the unfathomable.  What I mean is that I have no point of reference to draw on when experiencing something 3000 years old.  I have only been around for 50 years and thinking back on what life was just like only 30 or 40 years ago is difficult.  So how are we supposed to relate to something this old and this amazing?  The only thing that comes to mind is to respectfully appreciate the craftsmanship and hard work that those 720,000 put in to this project.  Here is a link to a short video that has more photos.  Enjoy and we will see many of you soon.  By the way, the next blog won't be written from home.  It will probably come from Hong Kong tomorrow while we wait for our flight.  It will be a short story about what I did while in Xi'an for the week.  for more pictures, enjoy the video found at this link.  Terra Cotta and The Concubine.