Xi'an, China 2014

Xi'an was the terminus hub in China for the old Silk Road. Its overriding fame is for the legions of Terracotta Warriors excavated at the burial site of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. It is believed about 8,000 soldiers exist, most still unexcavated. Previously I had seen a travelling exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto.

Our hotel, Xi'an Grand Soluxe International for two nights, is within the large old walled part of the city; the location pleases us very much. First we visit the city wall, seventy-seven steps up (who's counting?). Beautiful view of the well-kept ancient wall, tree leaves are starting to bud. A small temple is situated near us. We stroll around as evening approaches, noting the careful restoration in some areas.

Our dinner venue is "Xi'an Ancient Capital Theatre" with vast seating for meal serving. Because we are having a Special Dumpling Dinner! What a highlight ― very ornately created, each kind has a poetic description such as "sailing boat-shaped steamed Jiaozi." The names and pictures are being flashed on a video screen as we eat but we are more absorbed in the scrumptious dumplings and their accompaniments. The plates keep arriving at our table, at least thirteen varieties.

  

The restaurant is packed. We are entertained with a "Tang Dynasty" performance of traditional music and dancing. Much easier to relax here than at the Peking Opera. Lovely dancers and notably a woman playing the zither, also an amazing guy making weird noises on the strangest horn.

Next morning we linger in a special park commemorating historical figures – poets, philosophers – and a Buddhist temple, while waiting for the Shaanxi Museum to open. I love to see the groups of middle-aged/elderly people daily exercising; some do tai chi or martial arts practice or dance. Mao started this compulsory routine during the Cultural Revolution. A few practice writing Chinese characters with a long-handled mop and a bucket of water. On the edge of the park, army cadets are drilling. 2014 is the Year of the Horse.

The Museum is very rewarding, not crowded, plenty of time to see most exhibits. Always high security at museum entrances. Exquisite inlaid furniture. We see how they make clay replicas of the warriors to sell.

Onward to the obligatory jade "factory." Beautiful jewellery and intricate carvings of all sizes, almost like a priceless museum in itself. Our budgets are more suited to the pearl "factory" on a different day. Getting stuck for a while in a cargo elevator between floors makes for some uncomfortable moments! Outside, a warrior replica begs for attention.

At last, in the afternoon! To the Terracotta Warriors! It's a long walk back and forth to the site. Three pits are open to the public with appropriate exhibits, including a three-floor museum. One of the farmers who discovered the site, while digging a well back in 1974, is still living; he sits in the foyer autographing coffee-table books. The government built new housing for the displaced villagers and farmers (however, that didn't happen for some time).

  

Emperor Qin Shi Huang died in 201 BC. The burial site was built as an enormous sprawling monument with buildings and special landscaping, full of rare treasures so he could rule even after death. Many, many years to create. The uncovering of some 2,000 terracotta warriors is apparently the tip of the iceberg ― it's estimated there could be as many as 8,000 altogether. Each is an individually designed figure, originally painted in bright colours that rapidly flaked away upon exposure to the atmosphere. The emperor's actual inner tomb and many geographical features have not been excavated for health, safety, and technological reasons. Not only were mysterious booby traps planted against potential looters, but a great deal of deadly liquid mercury is present. Long-range planning for excavation and conservation is essential until more of the complex and its stunning artifacts can be revealed.

   

Lots of sightseers here, again few non-Asians. We have to keep moving around the pits. Each warrior is individually designed.

 A woman grabs me on our return trek and gobsmacks me by demanding in imperfect English, "How old are you?!" "Not a polite question," I smile, but she's persistent. I show her by extending my fingers. She happily trails us with her friends, excitedly speaking in their own language. Later I learn that age is greatly respected in general and it's a common question, asked admiringly. I still don't know if I was looking really ancient that day or if it was simple curiosity about a foreigner.

An awesome, exhausting day. The return trip into Xi'an is bad; traffic is almost at a standstill, long stops and stalls. Trucks line the shoulders of city expressways because regulations don't allow them on highways until a certain evening hour. We watch one woman get out of a car (as a passenger) and start walking. She had disappeared long before we reach an off-ramp a kilometre away. Unbelievably, we see a driver make a U-TURN in three-four lanes of one-way traffic and start inching back the wrong way. Road warrior!

A large tile wall at Xi'an Ancient Capital Thestre

  © 2016 Brenda Dougall Merriman

Peking Opera and More ...

Entertainment in China. Entertainment for tourists. An assortment of cultural experiences in March of 2014.

The story begins

Peking Opera is a highly stylized theatre medium. Doesn't everyone know that before they go? Apparently not. The traditional stories and characters are well-known to native audiences, although it seems that performances are not attracting the younger generations so much. Our audience was perhaps half tourists and half Beijing residents. I'd been forewarned that Chinese audiences were restless and could be distracting.

The beautifully costumed performers gave us a one-hour rendition of a classic story; the colourful, intricate makeup and masks were dazzling. So foreign to our eyes and ears. The costumes and the movements were of great interest to me, the one and only time I would ever have this experience. But from the beginning, it was not the Chinese who distracted us. Some of the tourist audience began an exodus quite soon, a few people at a time ― the music and characters were too foreign for them ― lurching up in the dark, shuffling their belongings, stepping on someone's feet, yapping out loud. Travel buddy and I became (a) increasingly indignant and (b) deeply mortified at the boorishness of fellow westerners.

Xu Chenghei, Peking Opera: The Performance behind the Painted Faces p. 80

Nonetheless, when the lead female singer began, it was rather shattering. I can't think of another word for that fricative, ear-piercing voice. Did we leave? No way. The performers were doing what they do best and deserved our respect; it's not like we were trapped for hours on end. Quite an experience, alright ... black eye, you yahoos. Presumably they wouldn't be so disruptive at home. Or maybe they would.

One evening we saw the Tang Dynasty Show at a dinner theatre in Xi'an (home of the Terra Cotta Warriors). Also featuring a Special Dumpling Dinner: no-one was going to walk out on this one! A multitude of servers hustled back and forth through the "Ancient Capital Theatre" venue with stacked steamers. As we sampled about thirteen varieties of ornately created dumplings, their poetic names were flashed on a giant video screen. "Sailing boat-shaped steamed Jiaozi" was one. Don't ask, I wish I'd made a note of them all. After dinner, traditional music and dancing entertained us. Lovely dancers and a woman on a zither-like instrument, also an amazing guy playing a strange horn, great fun.

Without a doubt, the highlight was Impression Liu San Jie in Yangshuo by the Li River. Created by the man who did China's Olympic opening ceremonies, much anticipation on my part. Yangshuo itself is a small town in terms of Chinese population, a domestic tourist destination because of its unusual scenery. Hundreds (thousands?) of dramatic limestone peaks (karsts) punctuate the countryside in the Guilin and Li River region.

Yangshuo, photo Wikipedia

To reach the outdoor show area was quite a trek, along with huge throngs of people; apparently every night of the week is the same. It was the only time we experienced such an intimidating mass of people. The real threat of rain deterred many of our group. Plastic rain covers were provided by the venue but happily, no downpour. The bad news was that cameras were almost useless in capturing the scenes.

yinxiangliusanjie.com

  What a reward ... mastery of illusion! The performance was staged on a "lake" predicated on mind-bending, optical effects. Neither before nor after was there a hint of what would or did unfold. Hundreds of performers made patterns across and over the lake as a female singer played out daily vignettes of river people. Her voice was a pleasure. Being subsumed into the extravagant breadth and dimensions of music, costumes, movement, was everything. Truly a unique spectacle. Post-facto, I realized we'd been sitting, watching, under one of the striking peaks that loomed over us. In my peripheral vision, in the dark, I imagined it to be a large tree. Such a tantalizing mystery how the man created it all, whether the "lake" was real, how the actors could move on it, how the necessary "back stage" was so hidden, and so on.

Chinatourguide

Later our guide Michael told us there are six hundred in the cast; most come from neighbouring farms and are paid a pittance. Next day we were promised a revealing daylight view of the "lake" site while on a river cruise. The river master foiled us. Needing to control excessive water flow, he prevented all boats from going upriver. Illusion intact!

  

Numerous shall I say lesser entertainments were on the agenda during the 24-day tour of China.

Acrobats in Shanghai; Yangtze cruise ship performers; the daily graceful exercises performed en masse in parks; the celebrated Hong Kong skyline laser show (NOT! ... cancelled at the last minute because it was Earth Hour!). Instead, travel buddy and I lucked into a wild phenomenon, a majestic show by nature herself.

Exploring the 42nd floor of our hotel, the thunderstorm that threatened all day finally exploded. There we were on an enclosed catwalk between two towers ― glass floor, glass windows, glass ceiling, completely surrounded by the flash and deafening noise and vibration of the storm. One mother of a storm. Half scared to death! Totally thrilling moments and again, impossible to capture on film. Beats a laser show any night.

A photo from our hotel room will have to do ... before the storm!

© 2014 Brenda Dougall Merriman. All rights reserved.