Qin Shi Huang Di was the emperor of China who ordered the construction of the Terracotta Soldiers. His body was buried in a special tomb nearby the pits of warriors, horses, and weapons.
He was the first to unify the many different kingdoms into one China. In fact, the name China comes from his name — Qin or Chin. Although he brutally forced people to labor both at his tombs and at the Great Wall, he instigated many advancements for the country. He ordered unified guidelines for coins, weights, measures, cart axle width, and written Chinese.
This, of course, is a UNESCO site.
In the front of the Mausoleum complex, there were guards on duty, wearing interesting costumes and really playing their parts. Maybe it was just the noon-time heat, but they would not crack a smile at us!
We happened to be entering the complex just as the changing of the guard occurred!
To be honest, there is not much at this site to see. Qin Shi Huang Di’s tomb has NOT been excavated. It is believed to be full of mercury which is very dangerous. Chinese scientists are still researching how best to excavate the wonderful treasures that must be buried there. The mercury is supposedly to simulate bodies of water around the palace the emperor prepared for his afterlife.
Because there is not much to see, many tourists skip this museum altogether. But we figured that we’d traveled all the way to Xian that we should see everything! DD was the one who pointed out the contradiction — to see the emperor’s tomb (albeit not inside) was only 45 RMB but to see the terracotta soldiers cost 90 RMB. She thought that if the emperor knew, he’d be terribly offended.
But we rode a horse cart around the grassy hills. That was relaxing.
There was a nice performance simulating some of the religious rituals that were performed at the time of the emperor. (By the way, that was not Buddhism. Buddhism had not yet been introduced in China at that time. It was a mix of an ancestor and emperor worship.)
Yet another slice of history. We were there. We saw it in person.
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