Day 10.

We set off from our hotel early this morning and our first stop was a pottery factory where they make terracotta warriors from tiny ones to life size ones. They showed us how they make the statues and how they are fired in the kiln. We watched some men painstaking painting intricate designs on these huge vases and pots.
We then went to the site of the Terracotta Warriors. The first pit we visited was pit number 1, the largest. You enter a building a bit like an aeroplane hanger and there below you is a massive pit full of terracotta warriors and horses. It is just the most amazing sight.
There are three other pits almost as large. All of these soldiers and kneeling archers and horses were placed there to guard one man, the first emperor of the first dynasty when he died. He had this built for himself before he died, he spent most of his reign building it. It was a temple. He himself is buried further away and as yet they haven’t excavated his tomb. It is a mound covered in grass and they’ve x-rayed it and know it is full of treasures but the technology to preserve it isn’t there yet so they are leaving it for the time being.
The site was discovered by farmers in 1974 and archeolgists began excavating. They discovered that the temple had been burnt down and the warriors damaged and broken. A lot of them have their heads missing. Many of them were in pieces and have been painstakingly put back together again. This work is still ongoing and will be for a long long time.
The destruction of the temple was done by the farmers revolution in about 200BC roughly. It was covered in ash from the fire initially and then thousands of years of dust from Mongolia kept it buried until 1974.
It is just the most amazing sight. Definately one of the highlights of the trip. The other being the 3 gorges.