[Leica] Xi'an

[George Lottermoser]

informative captions
+
beautiful photographs
and
Shopper - stopped me for the longest time.
Stunningly beautiful subject
superbly captured

a note off the iPad, George

On Nov 13, 2014, at 10:15 AM, Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote:

> I like Shopper, but then again you probably guessed that :-)
> 
> You're improving my knowledge of China. X'ian looks fascinating and has well over eight million people living in it - twice the population of Ireland!
> 
> Douglas
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jayanand Govindaraj" <jayanand at gmail.com>
> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org>; "PSM" <psm-1857 at googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2014 1:35 PM
> Subject: [Leica] Xi'an
> 
> 
>> 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
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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> 
> 
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