Xian Shan Things to Do

Located 66 feet (20 meters) to the north of Pit 1 at the eastern end, Pit 2 is in an "L" shape. This pit was discovered in April 1976, covering an area of 64,583 square feet (6,000 square meters). It measures 407 feet (124 meters) long from east to west, 322 feet (98 meters) wide from north to south and 16 feet (5 meters) deep. Different from Pit 1, Pit 2 consists of mixed military forces in four arrays, archers, war chariots, cavalrymen and infantrymen. The four arrays seemed to exist independently, but could be assembled immediately to constitute a complete battle formation during the war times. This reflects the unique strategy of Qin military affairs.

The excavation work of Pit 2 is still continuing. At present a large area of the remnants of the roof beams and a small part of the pottery warriors and horses are being exhibited in the pit. It is a rare chance for tourists to get up close and personal with how the excavation process works and the fact that it is still ungoing. While not as large or visually appealing as Pit #1 it offers a broader scope of the different formations used and some of the different types of warriors and officers.

The idea of the Terracotta Warriors has always fascinated me, the thought of thousands of buried soldiers standing guard in the Emperor's tomb lost for hundreds of years and then rediscovered by farmers is an amazing story. Visiting the Terracotta Warriors was not a letdown, at least in the size and immesnity of the pits and soldiers. Although I thought I knew what to expect I found I was still blown away by the stunning sight of thousands of soldiers, horse, and chariots standing at attention, frozen in time. Pit #1 is stunning site to behold, its in a giant auditorium and covers the length of almost two football fields. Its the most spectactular of the four pits and has over 6,000 warriors to fawn over. Your initial entrance will be towards an overlook of the pit and then there is a ramp on either side leading down to a walkway that circles the pit giving you chance to get closer to the warriors. Sadly you cannot get down into the pit and rub shoulders with the Terracotta Warriors, so obviously having you picture taken with one of the warriors is also out of the question. So unless your Xiang Yu don't plan on being able to get up close and personal with Emperor Qin Shi Huang finest.

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Since it was a school-trip we also went sightseeing in Xi'an wisiting the drum tower, a chinese mosque and a local market not far from the mosque. The market was very nice with the usual chinese goods like handmade silk paintings, small figurines of dragons etc. etc. etc. Do not forget to haggle! I you don't they concider you rude and/or a bit stupid :)

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You have never seen anything quite like this, and you will never again! It is hard to believe that the estimated amount of 7000 uniqely designed real sized terracotta soldiers could lie hidden in the ground for more than 2000 years!

A couple of local farmers stumbled across these ancient figures when drilling a water well in 1974 close to the man made mountain called Lishan, the tomb of emperor Qin Shi Huang, who was the first emperor of the Qin dynasty form which China got its name.
The tomb of emperor Qin is yet not opened by archeologist due to the belief of his tomb containing a lake of mercury. It is possible to walk the many stairs to the top of Mount Lishan to soak up the historic athmosphere not to mention the amazing view.

Not far from the emperor's tomb you can visit the excavasion site of the terracotta soldiers. Aprox. 8,099 figures has been unearthed including realsize horses and carriages believed to have been made about 210 BC. The soldiers purpose was to guard the emperor's tomb and once carried brass weapons believed to been used in real combat. Some are archers others infantry. The soldiers were discovered in different pits, two of which is open to public. In pit number one you can see over 6000 of the terracotta soldiers.

The museum is quite modern and very tourist orientated. Information is provided in english and the museum even has interactive information of how the soldiers were made, the history of discovering them and so on. The "film room" is worth a visit. Here each of the sides in the sircular shaped room is fitted with a screen playing live images creating the feeling that you're in the middle of a battle.

Besides the overwhelming size of the museum, the thing that supprised me the most was that one of the farmers that discovered the soldiers was sitting otside the giftshop signing books about the terracotta soldiers. Allthough he did not speak english it was nice to see that the museum had included him in the display of ancient history!

Few things are as striking as the Terracotta Warriors. There are about 1000 of them uncovered, with about 7000 more underground.
They have 3 amazing features-
1 the amount of work that went into creating them
2 The amount of effort that went into destroying them.
3 The ongoing work to preserve and renovate them.

Well, I visited this place a few years ago, and it was 'ok'. It's one of the oldest villages every found, however it's being extremely poorly excavated, so there's water everywhere and in reality you can't see much, let alone imagine how they lived 6,000 years ago. It's pretty much a waste of time and i'd suggest going to the history museum instead.

This is one of the 5 'sacred' mountains of China. I did not visit it and only saw it from the bus, but it looked amazing. I've been to another of the 'sacred mountains', that being the Yellow mountain in Anhui province. These things kick ass and are totally mind-blowing. You could spend days, maybe even weeks in this place without getting bored / seeing the same thing twice. Oh, and there's wildlife in there, unlike anywhere else in China these days...
Check out www.kamleung.com for info.

This is one of the 'must see' attractions of Xi'an. Dating back to its creation in 654 (or something crazy like that) it has survived many earthquakes and remains almost pristine to this day (well it looks great, that's for sure). It's been renovated a couple times, sure, but it still keeps it old-time look.
Entrance fee is 25 Yuan / person. Another 20, if you wanna walk up the 64m pagoda itself. Oh, and don't miss the huge monk statue...makes for a great picture.

Take the # 610 bus from the Bell Tower for a about 15 minutes. Once you've past the history museum it's just another stop. Then, walk a few blocks, look to your right and you'll see it peeking above the trees. Just walk in that direction and you can't miss it, there are always a few hundred people there. Or I was told you could take bus # 609 from the Bell Tower, all the way to the last stop.