The Terra Cotta Army of the Qin Dynasty

Today China provided us a little taste of home. The temperature was in the 50s, and it rained off and on the entire day. Zhou, our guide, told us that they only get about 20" of rain all year, so of course we had to catch some of it while were were here for a few days. It was a far cry from the high 80s the previous day when we were biking on the walls of Xi'an.

We visited the amazing Terra Cotta Army Museum on Thursday. This is the site of approximately 8,000 life-size clay warriors that were constructed to guard the tomb of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty approximately 2,200 years ago. When the warriors were discovered in 1974, almost all of them were in pieces, so all of the soldiers pictured above were pieced together and renovated. I can't imagine the patience that is required for that job! In the evening we had a 5-course meal and saw a traditional show at the Tang Dynasty Theater. Zhou had one of the performers bring a cake to Dr. Marlin for his birthday yesterday, and he had to cut it with a gigantic scythe. (I was at a different table, so I'll try to get a picture of that from someone else to post later.)

We have a few more sites to see in Xi'an today before we board the overnight train for Beijing tonight. I won't be able to post again until we get to Beijing on Saturday, so stay tuned until then! Oh, and Happy Birthday, Sarah! Wait until you see the things that I've bought Marie!