Xi'an to you too!

Xi'an: pronounced shee-YAN.

If you haven't read my previous post, Shanghaied in Beijing (which you probably haven't unless you're up very early in the morning), I would do so right now. In fact, if you're a bit overwhelmed by the fact that I've got here two monster posts in a row, I'd read the other one and not this one. If you read on blog post this year, make it that one. It's pretty stellar.

So, at the end of my last post, I was on the train headed for Xi'an from Beijing. It was a fairly uneventful trip. I was asleep for almost all of it (the trip is about 10 hours long). Or rather, I was trying to be asleep, but wouldn't you know that sleeping on a tiny bunk with all your stuff on a moving, rather loud train makes it difficult to sleep. So I was in and out all night. It was sort of sad, because it was very dark, so I couldn't exactly see the countryside.

I got to Xi'an rather exhausted, as I had had a pretty intense day the day before, but when I met my tour guide, it was hop to it. We were going on a tour of the city. I had only a few minutes to grab some breakfast, and then there I was, running around Xi'an.

A bit about Xi'an, since no one has probably heard of it. I hadn't. Xi'an itself has been inhabited for 6000 years, many of those years, it was the capital of China. There has been human~ish civilization in Xi'an for over a million years. I find this quite incredible. Indeed, the museum I visited claimed that the Yellow River was the cradle of civilization, not the Tigris and Euphrates like we usually hear.

China has an absolutely fascinating history. From about 4000 BC until about 1000 BC, China was a bunch of warring city states. This was about the time when the Egyptians were kicking butt. China is a big place, so there was room for lots of Warlords. In 1000 BC or so, the Zhou dynasty became very powerful, so China became a bunch of city states who didn't mess with the Zhou.

After the Zhou dynasty fell apart, this Qin (pronounced Chin) guy came along and thought it might be nice to unite China. Having the most sophisticated military technology, he did so, and became the first emperor of China. (This is what the movie 'Hero' is about). Not only did he unite China for the first time, but he began the construction of the Great Wall, and it is his tomb that has the Terra Cotta Warriors. My tour guide called them "miracles" but I don't think I'd go so far. They are very impressive though.

Anyways, after him there were a bunch of other dynasties, with China occasionally splitting into two or three kingdoms. But one dynasty in particular bears mention. The Tang Dynasty came to power just as the Romans were falling (not that these were related). The Tang dynasty built on the work of the dynasty before them and created the Silk Road, which connected Xi'an with India, the Middle East and Constantinople. Yes, centuries before Marco Polo was even born, the Chinese were trading with Constantinople (which is at the point where Turkey meets Greece). It kind of diminishes his accomplishment, I think.

After the museum (which I found exceptionally fascinating, but I'm not sure enough of my facts to relate everything here), we went to something I thought my tour guide was calling "The Great Mask" but was in fact "The Great Mosque". Xi'an has a very large Muslim population, and they built themselves a nice Mosque, which is very cool because it incorporates both Arabic and Chinese style in it. I took some neat pictures.

Following the Mosque, we visited the City Wall. The City wall was built in the same era as the Forbidden City. It encircles what used to be the entire city, with a perimeter of 14 km. It turns out you can rent bikes to ride all the way around, and this is exactly what I did. It was a pretty neat ride, even if my bike was the worst thing ever. The wall, although quite solid, is 600 years old, so some parts were rather bumpy, and the bike was definitely a road bike, so I felt every single bump all the way through all of me.

Later this evening, I went to a dinner and show (the dinner and the show together didn't cost me anything close to what that tea cost). The dinner was a dumpling buffet, and let me announce something. Let it be known that I, Daniel Yule, love dumplings. Let it echo down the ages that I will eat just about anything that comes in Dumpling form, including, but not limited to, fish, sharks fin, cabbage and just about anything else you want to stick some dough around and fry. Dumplings are far and away my favourite Chinese food. These particular dumplings were also in the shape of what they had inside of them.

The show was alright. It was a re-enactment of Tang Dynasty music and dance. Now, the dancers and musicians were very good, but you could tell they've done it a million times. They looked bored out on the stage. When you add in the fact that the production values were often downright cheesy, it was an underwhelming experience. But I am of course, comparing it to the acrobats I saw in Guangzhou, and anyone would be hard pressed to even begin to compare with that.

Xi'an is very different from the other cities I have been to. The other cities all look very new and exciting. Xi'an reeks (literally reeks) of past greatness. You can see it everywhere, from the old buildings to the veneration of a dynasty that held power over a thousand years ago. Unlike the poor of Beijing, who try and sell you things, the poor of Xi'an just beg. It just seems like a tired old city. Actually, it reminds me of the London in Oliver Twist. There are decrepit old buildings, beggars, pickpockets, marketplaces, and so on.

Tomorrow night I am leaving for Shanghai, so I won't be blogging most likely, but hopefully I don't have another intense day like yesterday. Anyhow, here is Xi'an in pictures.


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