October 16, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China
[Just a quick bit of house cleaning before I start this post: The internet has been exceptionally annoying lately. You may have noticed my posts have slacked off in frequency, and this is largely due to two factors:
1. I’ve been busier lately. I’ve made it my goal to leave my room and actually do things.
2. The internet sucks. Really. Entirely. It can take HOURS to post even one entry, and I really don’t have the time everyday to wait for the internet to possibly load the pages I need or maybe upload the photos I want. I really can’t wait until I’m back to a place where the internet is a least slightly more reliable.
Ok, now that that is out of the way…]
Today, the school took us on a field trip to the Hanyangling Museum.
Hanyangling Museum. Well, a sign for it, anyway.We were all a bit confused by the trip. Although we knew we were going to a museum, we assumed it would be one of the many in Xi'an. This museum was, however, an hour's bus ride to the north. The ride took us through...let's say an interesting part of China:
Terrain. The trip lead us totally beyond the Thunderdome.The area was dusty and rough. And dry. So, very dry.
USmile. Make me.There was a discussion as to whether the museum was a museum or a mausoleum. As it turns out, it was both.
Stairway. To, well, nothing.The Hanyangling Museum is an underground museum based around the burial mound of Han Emperor Liu Qi.
The Underground Museum. Oh, that explains that stairway that didn’t go anywhere.
Mound Model. A scale model of Han Emperor Liu Qi's burial mount.The Hanyangling Museum is really something of a mini-Terracotta Solider exhibit: The burial pits are filled with small representations of the possessions the Emperor had when he was alive: Plates, cups, oxen, pigs, eunuchs. You know, the usual.
Inside. Looking down the line at the visible burial pits.
Pits. Tiny representations of a life well-lived.The pits were not directly accessible, but were covered in a large glass walk-way that allowed us to see down.
Glass Floors. They made us wear blue, plastic foot covers.The bulk of the museum was dark, and the displays largely dirt-colored artifacts of one kind or another. One pit had small animals, another items from a kitchen, the next were terracotta representations of the ladies of the court. There were also, apparently, some actually animals buried in the pits. Most of them were recognizable, but one the guide pointed out specifically, saying that no one knew what kind of animal the skeleton had come from:
Mystery Bones. Looks like a cow to me.The second floor of the museum (really the first basement, whereas floor we had been on was a second basement), featured a movie and models of what the terra cotta people would have looked like, had time not rotted their wooden arms and silk clothes.
The Movie. No pictures, please.
Terra Cotta People. In various stages of undress.Also, there were large displays of the clothing worn at the time of Emperor Liu Qi.
Clothes. On display.On our way back, our bus stopped so we could have lunch. As we were walking up the sidewalk toward the restaurant, I asked Januar whether he thought we’d be going to the (cheap) restaurant with the pig mascot or the (expensive) restaurant with the crown on its sign. We voted pig, but it turns out it was the crown. Lucky for us, the school was paying.
Aftermath. Sorry, I was too hungry at the start of the meal to take pictures then.Hayden
