Terra Cotta Warriors

We made a special trip to Xi'an to see the Terra-Cotta Warriors just before we left Asia. The more than 8,000 warriors were discovered in 1974 when local farmers were drilling for a village well. The site is far from being completely excavated and I'm not sure if they plan on completely unearthing them all. Each figure is said to be different and is a true reflection of the skill and labor that would have been required to complete such a task.

if you look close you can see each warrior is in a different stage in the restoration process

Armor is pieces of stone that are threaded together with copper links. Simple yet effective linkage system.

This 22 foot tall Marionette Terra-Cotta Warrior participated in Olympic entertainment during the summer 2008 Beijing Olympics. Here is a short video of the warrior's performance with the little Chinese girl (who is said to represent modern China).



I am absolutely fascinated with marionettes in general, but the gigantic marionettes are somewhat of a fetish of mine. These two remind me of one of my all time favorite videos of the Sultan's Elephant by the French Mechanical Marionette Street Theatre Company, Royal Deluxe.

Treasures from the Forbidden City, Beijing, China

Gunpowder containers

Signet bracelet

Love that Filigree!

(Snuff bottles)

The Emperor and Empress clad in all their jewels

The Forbidden City (which is no longer forbidden) was the Chinese Imperial Palace for Emperors for almost five hundred years. Built between 1406 to 1420 this expansive compound houses over 8,700 rooms and covers 7,800,000 square feet. This place is truly a city! There is certainly no reason the Emperor would have had to leave this place. Everything came to him and he had plenty of room for whatever he pleased. There is a lot of interested history associated with this place, but aside from the amazing architecture, my favorite part was all the imperial treasures.

Textures from China