Foto: The Terracotta Army in Xian (bron: Rita van der Veer)
China - The main reason to visit Xi’an is the Terracotta Army. The Terracotta Army is the name given to the archaeological discovery of nine thousand terracotta figures buried as funerary objects with China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. When I get off at the parking lot, it is still quiet. The souvenir shops are just opening their doors. I am surprised that it is still about a twenty-minute walk from the parking lot. I could take an electric cart, but I decide to walk. It is cloudy today, and it rained this morning. I haven’t experienced this in a long time. Just in case, I bring my umbrella. Because of the humid weather, it feels oppressively warm. I first visit the museum. The museum explains how the site was created by order of the emperor. By chance, as I read, the terracotta figures were discovered in the 1970s. A farmer found the figures while digging a well. Today, little of the farmland remains. The excavations are fully covered, and a large square in front of the halls is paved. I start my tour in the second hall. The excavations in this hall were discovered more recently. The unearthed figures here are in much poorer condition than those in the main hall. Excavations of the Terracotta Army are also visible in hall three. Hall three is the smallest of the exhibition halls. When I finally enter hall one, I see thousands of terracotta figures gathered in a huge hall. The hall is the size of a large sports hall. The life-sized figures stand in rows side by side. An impressive sight. The archaeological site is so large that not all figures have yet been excavated. In the middle of the hall, a group of archaeologists is working on new excavations. They also try to reconstruct complete figures from fragments. I end my visit to the Terracotta Army with a film. I see how the army was created but also how many figures were destroyed at the fall of the dynasty.
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