Xian Tour XA1 - Terra-Cotta Warrior Museum, Banpo Museum and Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Terra-Cotta Warrior Museum - click here to view picture
This is the greatest find of the 20th century when a group of peasants digging a well in 1974 unearthed the burial ground of the first emperor of China - Qin Shi Huang - who unified the country during Qin Dynasty BC 221-206.
The site is located 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) east of the Qin Mausoleum. The emperor's terra cotta warrior was found in three underground timber lined vaults. Pit 1 contained chariots and ranks of six thousand soldiers. Pit 2 held fourteen hundred figures of cavalrymen, horses and infantrymen, along with ninety wooden chariots. Pit 3 contained about seventy figures. The Qin Terra-Cotta Museum, a hangar-like building constructed over Pit 1, the place of the original discovery in 1974 was opened in 1979. Later in October 1994, Pit 2 opened to the public. The museum is a stunning display that every visitor to China should see.

Banpo Museum - click here to view picture
Banpo Museum is located in the east of Xian and is the site of a village that dates back around 6,000 years to the Neolithic era, which is known as the Yangshao Culture in China. The site was discovered in 1953 and covers an area of approximately 50,000 sq meters. Excavations revealed 45 houses, pottery, kilns, a burial ground, grain stores and tool stores. Banpo is considered to be one of the best examples of an agricultural community of this era anywhere in the world.
It is claimed that the residents of this ancient village lived in a matriarchal community where the women organized everything from the hunting and farming to the building of the village and digging the defensive moats that protected the well-planned community. Other relics uncovered at the site include examples of the pottery of this era and over 10,000 tools and household utensils.
Visitors today can see the remains of 45 houses, 2 stables, more than 200 cellars, 6 kilns, and about 250 graves. The houses were constructed of thatch over wood beams while the floors were sunk two to three feet into the ground. Heat was provided by a central fire. Food was stored in underground caves, dug deep enough to protect the provisions from being devoured by wildlife or contaminated by insects. Architecture, village organization, and food storage methods appear to have been strikingly similar to the way of life of some native American plains tribes.
The Banpo worked together. They dug a trench around the entire complex both for protection and for drainage. There was a large meeting hall in the center of the village and a place for central storage. Most of the tools (e.g., axes, hoes, knives) were of stone, but some implements were of bone (e.g., needles for sewing). The stone tools look remarkably sharp, but it was still fortunate that the Banpo settled in an area where the soil was loose and easily tilled.
Art, in the form of geometric designs and human and animal figures, is found on many of the pots. Some of the pottery items have marks scratched on them that may well anticipate a form of writing. The village pottery produced specialized pots for drinking, storage, cooking, and burial. (Although adults were buried in the cemetery outside the village, children and infants were buried alongside the huts in special clay urns; the reason for this continues to be matter for speculation.)

Big Wild Goose Pagoda - click here to view picture
The 7 story Great Wild Goose Pagoda was built in AD 652. It is a striking elegant building and is the symbol of Xian. The famous Buddhist monk Xuan Zang returned from a 17 year pilgrimage and the square pagoda was built to house the 600 or so Buddhist texts that he had collected in India.
The pagoda - built within the compound of the Benevolence Temple - has high architectural value considering it is already 1,300 years old. Above the stone doors at the bottom of the tower, there remain the exquisite line-etched pictures from the Tang Dynasty. The bottom of the pagoda resembles a wild goose, hence the name, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Xuan Zang is a household name in China. The famous novel "A Journey to the West" is based on his long journey to India.

Xian Tour XA2 - History Museum, Forest of Stone Steles, Ancient City Wall and Bell Tower
History Musuem - click here to view picture
This modern well organized museum was completed in 1992 and traces the history of Xian from prehistory to the Qing dynasty. The extensive galleries and exhibitions offer the visitor an excellent introduction to the area that greatly improve understanding of the numerous historical sites in Xian.

Forest of Stone Steles - click here to view picture
The Xian Museum of Stone Tablets is situated 0.5 meters inside the South Gate of Xian City Wall. It consists of three sections: the stone tablets of classics, the stone tablets of calligraphy, and the gallery of stone carvings. It is the largest museum of stone carvings in Asia.
When entering the Forest of Stone Tablets, the first thing you see is a two-storied tablet pavilion in square shape especially built for the famous Classic of Filial Piety. It was engraved in CE 745 in the handwriting and with annotation of Tang Emperor Xun. The tablet is set on a magnificent stone base, and is therefore called, “Stone-based Classic of Filial Piety.”
Behind the Tablet Pavillion is the “Kaicheng Stone Classics,” occupying the whole U-shaped exhibition hall. This is the first and largest exhibition room in the Museum of Stone Tablets. In the second exhibition room is a concentration of the specimens of calligraphy written by famous calligraphers from Jin Dynasty to Tang Dynasty. The special feature here is the inscription of the “Preface to the Teachings of Buddhism” by Tang Emperor Tai, a chronicle by Tang Emperor Gao, and two essays giving thanks written by Buddhist Master Xuanzhang.
In the Exhibition Hall of Stone Sculptures are more than 70 pieces of artwork, classified into mausoleum carvings and religious carvings in a chronological order. The stone beasts of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220) were made in simple but forceful cuts. The Buddhist statues of the Tang Dynasty were rounded and natural in expression. The six war steeds at the tomb of Tang Emperor Tai were best known for their liveliness and high spirit. All the masterpieces fully display the superb techniques, artistic talent, and perseverance of the ancient artists.

Ancient City Wall - click here to view picture
The City Walls of Xian were first built during the Tang dynasty (618-907) when Chang’an (Xian) was capital of all of China. Today’s rectangular walls date back to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and are the only complete city walls in China. They enclose the old city for 12km (8 miles) and have turrets, battlements and a moat.

Bell Tower - click here to view picture
The Bell Tower is a square-shaped construction 36 meters in height, built on a 8-meter-high brick base. It was built in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1384), originally on Guangji Street, a short distance west of the Drum Tower, and was moved to the present site in AD 1582. The upturned eaves are supported by colorful dougong, a unique Chinese architectural style. The whole tower is a wooden structure with mortise and tenon jointed without a single iron nail. The three layers of eaves are covered with blue glazed tiles, and the beams and columns of the upper and lower rooms are decorated with colorful paintings.