[Leica] Xi'an

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

The next stop was Xi'an, the home of the Terracotta Army. The Army was
buried to protect the founder of the first dynasty in China. Emperor Qin
(of the Qin Dynasty), near his burial mound, from enemies he might
encounter in his afterlife around 210 BC. The figures are 10-15% larger
than life size, as befits a ghost's army, and the detail on their bodies is
quite amazing. In due course, everybody forgot about it, until a farmer,
digging a well under his lands in 1974, stumbled upon it. The walls had
fallen on the army, grave robbers had stolen the weaponry, and flooding had
ruined the figures as well, leading to a painstaking and gargantuan
reconstruction task. There is enough still hidden here to keep
archeologists busy for a century more, I think - there are supposed to be
60 pits around, full of the emperors help for the hereafter, and only 4-5
have been dug up, fully or partially. The Emperor's necropolis has not been
opened as yet for fear of what oxidation would do to the things inside. The
Terracotta Army is very well documented, so here are a few shots from the
three pits open to the public, giving an idea of what is there:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-1854.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-1954.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-1884.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-1966.jpg.html

The museum and grounds are wonderfully laid out and maintained for both
maximum safety for the contents, as well as ease of viewing for the hordes
who pass by every year:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-1992.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2023.jpg.html

Xi'an, surprisingly has a big Muslim population, and is home to The Great
Mosque and its lovely green grounds. Luckily, on the day we went, there was
a funeral service going on someone important in the community, so there
were quite a few people around.:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2580.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2062.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2596.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2050.jpg.html

Surrounding the mosque was an enchanting covered market, selling, as most
such markets do, utterly flimsy, cheap and useless stuff:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2617.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2622.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2635.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2565.jpg.html

Everybody was zipping around the bazaar in electric vehicles, either bikes
or tuk-tuks:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2657.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2077.jpg.html

Finally, people shots to end the first day in Xian:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2063.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2067.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2028.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141017-2098.jpg.html

Please see LARGE

Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome.

Cheers
Jayanand