Xian: Shaanxi Museum

I loved Shaanxi Museum before I had even seen the collections. First, it was free to get in, which is unheard of for Chinese tourist attractions, where rampant ticket price inflation is the general rule. Secondly, not only was it not under cover, but there was heating on too. Security guards at the main entrance even provided you with a little plastic bag to put your umbrella in, and two of them almost pushed each other over in their eagerness to offer me a bag. This would have been blissful enough, even if the collections were mediocre, but I was treated to a series of beautifully curated galleries showing off Xian's historical treasures.

This a selection of my favourite items, roughly in chronological order. I could have been super organised and photographed all the labels too, so I could tell you that this is a drinking vessel from the Tang dynasty used for holding the Emperor's third favourite concubine's morning tea, but life is too short.

Ok, so I did photograph the label for this pottery jar, and can inform you that it is from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-475 B.C.). This was because the resemblence to Greek pottery decoration of the same time is simply so strong that I did a double take!

These are some replica Terracotta Warriors and horses. In the background you can see the montage of photographs of the real Warriors, showing how individual each one's face is. I wish I'd taken a photograph of that alone, as not only would it have been interesting to show you all, but also a pleasing cliche of postmodernism. Anyway, the Terracotta Warrior exhibition in the museum, although small, was far better curated than that at the actual site.

This is a bronze swan from the Qin tomb. The First Emperor obviously wanted his mercury rivers to be well populated. Interestingly, scientists have discovered that there is an increased level of mercury in the soil around the tomb area, so the legends about mercury rivers may in fact be true.

An acrobat. There was also a couple of warriors on display too, but as you can see the glass and lighting made taking photos a bit of challenge, and this is the only one not hopelessly blurry!

The calligraphy desk from the art centre/museum cafe, where I enjoyed a delicious and very reasonably priced latte. This is a very rare combination in China!

This is a lamp ingeniously designed to keep the smoke out of the room, as smoke from the taper would pass up through the head of the fish, down through the neck of the goose and be dissolved in it's water filled belly. Yeah, I confess, I photographed the label for this one too cos it was just so clever!

Xian: Terracotta Warriors

Pit 1

I was so excited on the sleeper train to Xi’an that I had trouble sleeping: it seemed so wonderfully improbable that I was on a sleeper train, in China, by myself, going to Xi’an for the weekend. A year ago, I would never have guessed that this is what I would be doing with myself.
I had been a bit apprehensive about booking the cheap, or hard, sleeper, but it was fine: comfortable bunk, clean bed linen, and silence five minutes after we pulled out of the station and everyone settled down to sleep. Or tried too, in my case.

I was immensely confused by the compartment steward coming round, taking our tickets and issuing us with a plastic card, which we then had to swap back at the end of our journey. I think perhaps it might be so that she can check that everyone gets off at the right stop.

Not that I had to worry about missing my stop, as I was woken up two hours before we reached it by vaguely jazzy music being piped through the speakers.

Zooming in on some of the Pit 1 warriors

As soon as I as got off at Xi’an station, I headed off to take a bus to the Terracotta Warrior Museum. I’d seen the Terracotta Warrior exhibition at the British Museum in London in autumn 2007, so I was looking forward to seeing them in situ.

The Terracotta Warriors were funary relics buried with China's First Emperor, to help him rule in the afterlife, and date from about 210 BC.

Cavalry man

However, and whisper this quietly, it was a little bit of a let down. I attempted to watch the film about the warriors, but the projection quality was so poor I left after a few minutes. Walking into Pit 1 and seeing all the warriors lined up was a ‘wow’ moment of recognition, but I was disappointed at how few warriors you could get up close to, because the truly amazing thing about them is how each one is different and how expressive they are.

Kneeling Archer

Remains of the original paint

Close up of his hairdo

There were only five warriors in cases, and even on a week day in low season I had to dodge the tour groups and be a bit pushy to get good views of them. Most people seemed to be on a guided tour, and each tour guide seemed to be trying out squawk the others. I understood why Jehovah wanted to destroy the Tower of Babel.

Emperor's bronze chariot

Pit 2 and 3 are mostly unexcavated. I tried to get some photos of the pits, but the rooms were far too dark. Sceptics might even wonder what is buried under there. Considering the fame and importance of the site, I was disappointed in how badly it was curated. I got the impression that it was a milch cow, and that there was more concern to provide pitches for legions of stalls selling tat outside than there was to provide the visitor with an informative and enjoyable experience.

Luckily for me though, I found the rest of Xi’an much more enjoyable.

I thought these two marionettes were unspeakably disturbing!