Xi'an - Terracotta warriors and neon lights - Aug 13, 2004

Nee How (Hello) from Xi'an, China

I'm sitting here in the largest internet cafe I've ever seen -- goes on forever, next to a disco. Prices are quite reasonable, 2.5 Yuan per hour (about 35 cents, Canadian).

Since arriving here we've explored the past and present of this city. Before I get to the fascinating history we've seen, a moment in the present. This is a modern, emerging world city filled with neon, giant billboards (frequently showing western women advertising cosmetics) and a Macdonalds on many corners downtown, displayed in matching neon to everything else with "I'm lovin it" blasting out of speakers. Fortunately, Chinese shopping centres are competing with MacDonalds blasting their own advertisements, which of course I don't understand.

There is lots of English here -- in a way -- many people know 5-20 words of English, which is better than my chinese, and can often communicate the basics (hello, goodbye, thank you, and the numbers up to 10). Lots of children run up to us and say "hello." The english translations on signs tho are sometimes challenging to grasp. I've yet to understand what "do not resort or pitching" means in the context of the excalator to an underpass. But most of the time, if taken in a more metaphoric way, the translations can be understood. We're still afraid, however, of the item on the menu called "braised penis in soup."

Here's a quote from James' e-mail to friends that further summarizes the mystery of translations:

"One of my initial observations is that I do not believe that Chinese was

ever made to be translated into English (or visa versa for that matter). My

first clue was at the airport where I noticed garbage cans that took

"Organic" and "Inorganic" garbage. Feeling somewhat puzzled I noticed that

the cans on the roads when we got to town were labelled (somewhat more

helpfully) as "Recycled" and "Unrecycled". I have thus assumed that that

unrecycled = inorganic, however, if anyone out there can clarify this it

would be appreciated."

The city has recently become a tourist destination, owing to the discovery of the Terracotta warriors. As a result, they've gone to some lengths to make it easier for westerners to get around. What has helped us a lot is the tourist map with all streets and monuments and sights written out in English and Chinese; you can get into a cab and point to something on the map, and off you go.

Xi'an was the ancient capital of China under several dynasties starting in about 700 B.C., and the area itself was the imperial centre for about 700 years before that. The Han dynasty, which united the Han people (now the CHinese people) was part of this history, and this heritage in the Xi'an area is now being celebrated in China -- Xi'an is the number one destination for Chinese tourists right now.

The big draw is the Terracotta Warriors. This is a replica of an army, thousands of soldiers, officers, horses, etc. all carved life size in clay. Each has a different face and expression, and was painted in a unique way. The army was built to guard the tomb of the emperor in 221 BC. Unfortunately, they failed in their duties as it wasn't long after his death that the empire fell and his tomb as well as the caverns of warriors were destroyed. There they lay until a farmer uncovered a cavern 30 years ago. Gradually an archaelogical dig has unearthed them and some have been restored -- put back together. Others have been left in the chaos in which they were left by the raiders 2200 years ago.