Shaanxi Provicial Museum in Xi'an

At the airport, our tour leader Yuan welcomed a local expert, Candy, to assist him in guiding us through Xi'an.

As anyone who went on our tour, including Julie, can tell you, much of what I write about in my blog differs considerably from what our guides shared.

Because China does not have free speech which we take for granted in the United States, I definitely want to make that crystal clear, as I wouldn't want Yuan or our other guides to be blamed for my narrative which to a great extent is based on reading history about our itinerary that I chose to explore on my own.

My "research" also included watching the historical drama The Last Emperor, reading the history-mystery The Emperor's Tomb and even watching Richard Gere's legal drama Red Corner.

While popular culture interpretations of the past may not be an acceptable method of research for a true scholar who would instead dig down to the original sources wherever possible, in the case of China, much of the true original sources have been destroyed by successive governments, including the Chinese Communist Party(CCP), which sought to essentially replace all accumulated knowledge with Mao's Little Red Book.

Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of a united China, started this tradition of burying history when he destroyed the books of the Chinese regions he conquered in order to enforce a standardized  language while maintaining and therefore honoring only Qin historical records in the name of full assimilation into his empire.

According to Steve Berry, "Tang found it hard not to be impressed by such grand accomplishments, and though Qin Shi had lived long ago, the man's impact still resonated.  He was the first to divide the land into prefectures, each composed of smaller units he named counties.

"He abolished the feudal system and eliminated aristocratic warlords.  Weights, measures, and currencies became standardized.  A uniform code of laws was enacted.  He built roads, a wall to protect the northern border, and cities.  Even more critical, the various local scripts were replaced with one written alphabet.

"But the Emperor was not perfect," Berry continues through The Emperor's Tomb fictional character Tang's thoughts about real history.

"He enforced severe laws, imposed heavy taxes, and requisitioned people by the thousands for both military and construction services.  Millions died under his reign.  To begin an enterprise is not easy, but to keep hold of success is even more difficult.  Qin Shi's descendants failed to heed the First Emperor's lesson, allowing peasant revolts to ferment into widespread rebellion.  Within three years of the founder's death, the empire crumbled."

Qin Shi's brief 12 year reign as Emperor of China was enough time to link The Great Wall sections together for the first time.  In addition, Qin Shi Huang oversaw construction of his own massive underground tomb, a recreation of his empire "protected" by thousands of life sized Terra Cotta Warriors.

The Han Dynasty which supplanted the Qin Dynasty in 206 BC and ruled until 220 AD --- over 400 years, or almost 200 years longer than the United States of America has been a nation --- apparently attempted to erase Qin from history, too, including his burial site.

An alternative story is that the underground world was top secret because the First Emperor wanted it to be so.  In this scenario, Qin Shi killed 700,000 slaves who had labored to build his tomb lest they should reveal anything about it that could lead to pillaging the valuable artifacts buried with him.

In any case, that was the net effect when over the centuries the land above the tomb returned to agricultural use.

The farmers living above the tomb many generations later had no clue there was a massive structure buried deep beneath their fields.

It wasn't until 1974 --- 2,200 years later --- that farmers digging a well near Xi'an found a terra cotta hand that aroused curiosity.

The government of the Chinese Communist Party owns all of the land in China, so the farmers notified authorities, who brought in archaeologists to oversee excavations that revealed this "new" Wonder of the World.

This amazing archaeological find made the sleepy area that had long ago been the capital of China into a tourist mecca, and even Communists realized it could be a goose that lays golden eggs if properly exploited.

So massive is the area still not explored that excavations should continue for hundreds of years, keeping that tourist gravy train running and justifying continued expansion of Xi'an.

As archaeological interest in the area exploded, significant artifacts from diverse dynastic eras were uncovered around the region, and reportedly over 370,000 have found a home in this beautiful structure.

The museum was built in the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty, which ruled China for almost 300 years starting in 618 AD.

If you click on the photos to enlarge them, you may be able to read on some the approximate dates when they were crafted.  It is amazing to see the quality of work from hundreds of years before Christ.

This museum visit served as our introduction to Xi'an.  That evening, most of our group signed up for the optional Tang Dynasty Dinner Show, with a six-course menu followed by a historical dance performance, but Julie and I opted instead for a date night in Xi'an.