Muslim Quarter
Very few people are aware of the Muslim quarter of the city of Xi’an where Chinese Muslims live and work. The market offers many Chinese and Arabian goods as well as a good number of restaurants. The history of the Muslim quarter starts making sense when you realize that Xi’an was a terminus of the Silk Route from the Middle East. Muslims brought their wares to sell here and returned with silk, spices and tea. Many established businesses and intermarried with local Chinese people creating an Islamic island in this part of the country.
The centuries-old defensive wall surrounding the city is a great place to bike or walk. The 14 kilometers is easily navigated without worrying about traffic or pedestrians. The wall is surrounded by small streets many with shops specializing in one particular item. For example, the art supply street sells all sorts of paints, papers and traditional Chinese paint brushes. A 900 year old museum containing tons (literally and figuratively) of historical steles – 2,300 in all – can add more to your education of the area.
Terra Cotta Warriors
The warriors were interesting and are best viewed during the off season (or the slack season as it is called here) because there were much fewer people and the price of admission was lower.
The warriors were commissioned by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, around 2200 years ago and employed thousands of craftsmen for years in their creation. They were discovered in 1974 by four farmers digging a well. Apparently, some locals already knew about them as they had uncovered pottery fragments in the past, but fearing that these were body parts of evil spirits, the shards were quickly reburied and forgotten.
The vastness of the pits is amazing – especially Pit 1 – where so many soldiers and horses once again stand at attention. The clay army had been set on fire and broken into thousands of pieces soon after the emperor for whom it was built died and warring groups took over. Archeologists found it in this shape in the mid 1970s and starting reconstructing the army very much like an enormous jigsaw puzzle.
The life-size statues are in various states of reassembly providing visitors a good idea with the enormity of this task. There are some 6,000 terra cotta figures and some 10,000 pieces have been sorted to date with a lot more work to be done.
Pits are only partly excavated as once light hit upon the colorful warriors, the paint oxidized and disappeared. Photos and copies show that each one was painted with great detail applied to the faces and costumes. They are now all beige or sandy color except those that have yet to be dug up.