| Terracotta Warriors | Great Mosque |
| Muslim Markets | Night Markets |
Terracotta Warriors
The terracotta warriors are the legacy of the first emperor of China. Like most absolute rulers, he was extremely paranoid and naturally wanted a large army to protect him in the afterlife. This was a problem for his generals because he wanted his real army to go with him. When his generals tactfully pointed out that this would leave the newly formed empire unprotected, the emporer settled for clay copies. Not any old copies though, but life size replicas of individual soldiers (each one is unique), armed with real weopons. The army was buried in battle formation within underground vaults, wooden beams for rooves and covered in earth. The emporer himself was buried under a large man-made hill, protected by his army.
As is usual when buried treasure is left alone, word soon got out that there were lots of usable weopons buried near the emporer's hill. So it didn't take long before another paranoid despot broke into the vaults, stole all the weopons, destroyed the clay figures and set fire to the whole place. The emporers tomb went unnoticed probably because the hill was thought to be real. So the terracotta warriors lay in smithereens for a millenium and a half before a peasant farmer, digging a well in the fields one day uncovered a clay head. Very soon, the chinese government ordered the excavation of the vaults and discovered the thousands of soldiers on show today. Well, ok, they discovered the worlds biggest 3d jigsaw puzzle. Each soldier took on average a month to put back together! Work is ongoing so there are still plenty awaiting restoration.
Xian lies at the very end of the Silk Road. Trade moved generally from China to India and then Europe, but people sometimes moved the other way. That was the case for a group of arabs who travelled to China along the Silk Road to found a muslim enclave, today centered around The Great Mosque. The mosque is unlike any other in the world. For instance, this is the only one where the call to prayer is announced in chinese, and this is the only one where a pagoda is the minaret. It is by description, a mosque with chinese characteristics. Considering these muslims have been marooned here for so many generations that is hardly suprising, but seeing is believing. Even amongst the very pleasant grounds of the mosque you can find numerous dragon reliefs and traditional Feng Shui stones. Only hints of the arabic heritage come through, some of the ninety-nine names of Allah are written in traditional classic Quranic text around the main courtyard, but even these are outnumbered by the chinese versions.
Adjacent to the The Great Mosque are the muslim markets. Here you can go souvenir hunting for all sorts of things. Here you can buy lighters decorated with Chariman Mao that play 'The East is Red' when you use them. Alternatively you can go for something tasteful like a silk painting or some his and hers chops. What are chops ? They are soapstone blocks wide enough to carve a name onto and be used for occasional printing. There are many, many other things on show here and mercifully the muslim markets retain one important characteristic: haggling. Whatever it is you want to get, haggling is the only way to go. Since many of the shops sell the same stuff, you can claim a better price elsewhere (whilst ignoring the overacting shop keeper) and of course, walking away is your greatest weopon, just listen as the price falls and falls.
Night Markets are a really big deal in China. In fact, it seems as if most of the people in the cities eat out at them. Here in Xian, we visited a muslim eaterie with chinese characterisitics - it sold beer! After you get passed that surprise, you get served up the identified dishes. Normally, it is not possible to figure out what you are eating until you have put it in your mouth and chewed it up for a while. Even then, it's still hard to imagine what some things are. In those cases you just don't ask of course. I gave up asking after finding out I was eating minced pigeon, complete with smashed bones (yum!). The food of course tastes great whatever you eat, and within a few days you become expert with chop sticks (or you don't eat at all). But don't make the mistake of expecting rice with your food; not straight away that is. The chinese view rice as the poorest part of the meal, so serve it last, after the really tasty mains. Before the mains come soup dishes, and before that tea. A complete meal in reverse !
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