Chapter Seven: Mausoleums, Mountains, and Monuments in Xian

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65 Chapter Seven: Mausoleums, Mountains, and Monuments in Xian One of China s archaeological sites most known in the West is the hoard, and horde, of life-sized terracotta warriors that were

1 65 Chapter Seven: Mausoleums, Mountains, and Monuments in Xian One of China s archaeological sites most known in the West is the hoard, and horde, of life-sized terracotta warriors that were discovered just outside Xian, in Shaanxi province, in the mid 1970s. Several more finds have been made since and the archaeologists say there is probably a lot more still to be dug up. These warriors were made on the orders of the first emperor to aim at a united China, emperor Shi of the Qin dynasty. They were to guard his tomb after his death and give him power in the netherworld to keep ruling. In other words they were an expression of megalomania. Emperor Shi spent his life ravaging, pillaging, and slaughtering so as to subject everyone to his control. He succeeded but only lived long enough to enjoy total rule for 15 years. His son and successor barely lasted a year before he and the Qin dynasty were overthrown. In addition the grand mausoleum in which Emperor Shi was buried was vandalized and ransacked and the terracotta warriors smashed and burned (as I learnt from a very fine film shown in the museum). So much for protection in the netherworld though why anyone could imagine that terracotta warriors could provide protection to anyone anywhere is beyond me. Emperor Shi must have been one of those bully types: as much a brute in his mind as in his body (not unlike Chairman Mao, one thinks). Anyway the terracotta warriors lay shattered and buried for some 2000 years before they were accidentally discovered by some peasants digging a well. The rest is history as they say.

66 Anyway, the archaeologists have been having a field day since, and rows and rows of the warriors, lovingly put back together again, now stand in silent and impressive array to be gawked at by

Doubtless this work is of great artistic and historical value (much has been learnt, for instance, about the fairly advanced military and artistic techniques in ancient China), though, for a tourist,

2 66 Anyway, the archaeologists have been having a field day since, and rows and rows of the warriors, lovingly put back together again, now stand in silent and impressive array to be gawked at by tourists (what would Emperor Shi think of that, I wonder). More and more of the things are being put back together for the same purpose. Doubtless this work is of great artistic and historical value (much has been learnt, for instance, about the fairly advanced military and artistic techniques in ancient China), though, for a tourist, after you ve seen one of them you ve seen them all. Moreover you can purchase copies of all sizes from the souvenir-sellers who crowd near the entrance to the museum. These copies are ridiculously cheap and almost impossible not to buy. I had two sets of figurines literally forced on me by hawkers for barely 8RMB (=$1). They were no doubt hoping I would be attracted by the price to buy something else. But two sets of copies of a megalomaniac s insanities were enough for me.

absolutely inimitable English. The aim is to be at one of the peaks to see the sunrise.

3 67 I had other interests anyway. I wanted to get to Hua Shan (Hua Mountain) some 100 kilometers further east. This is an old sacred spot and a popular place for hiking for modern Chinese as well as for the display of signs in absolutely inimitable English. The aim is to be at one of the peaks to see the sunrise. Most Chinese start off at the valley floor about 11 at night and reach the top by 4am or so to see the first glimmers of dawn and then the sun itself at about 5.20am.

retreat, paying barely $4 for a bunk bed in a dormitory of some 30 or more beds, only one other of which was occupied while I was there.

4 68 I decided to do it the easy way. I took the cable car (built by the Swiss, incidentally) to the lowest of the peaks before 7pm and spent the night in a mountain retreat, paying barely $4 for a bunk bed in a dormitory of some 30 or more beds, only one other of which was occupied while I was there. I then rose at 2.30am to make my trek to the next and much higher peak for the dawn. The climbing is steep but ridiculously easy because the Chinese have carved or built steps everywhere. In fact the whole mountain is like a tourist resort.

I myself quickly teamed up with a group of hikers who had come from the valley floor the previous

5 69 There are hotels everywhere, there are shops, hotels, restaurants, and drink stalls all along the route. The place is also full of hikers, even and especially at 3 in the morning. I myself quickly teamed up with a group of hikers who had come from the valley floor the previous night and whose flashlights and ability to read signposts in Chinese helped me to follow along the right path.

6 70 We reached the peak in the first glimmers of dawn to join the tens of others already there. The morning was fresh (though not cold I was in shirt sleeves and sandals and did not feel uncomfortable), but not entirely clear at the horizon.

7 71 The sun, however, did eventually appear through the distant clouds and haze. After much photo-taking everyone set off on the return journey. Flashlights were not needed now, of course, so I ambled back at my own solitary pace. One thing that had puzzled me on my way up was how the Chinese managed to get all the provisions and tools up to the hotels and restaurants. The cable car is of recent origin and anyway it does not go to the very top. In places too the steps are cut into vertical rock faces so there s no way that donkeys could make it up (the way they make it up Mount Olympus in Greece).

8 My curiosity was soon satisfied when, on my way down, I kept meeting toiling peasants coming up burdened down with heavy loads. 72

going up the mountain. He did the same trip every day and managed to earn about 40+RMB a month ($50) to support his wife and two kids.

9 73 By now, of course, the sun was up and the temperatures were rapidly climbing (I was sweating just going down let alone coming up). In broken Chinese and with the help of some English translation from passing hikers, I managed to find out from one such peasant that he got paid 24RMB (about $3) for his day s labor going up the mountain. He did the same trip every day and managed to earn about 40+RMB a month ($50) to support his wife and two kids. No pension, of course, no paid vacations, no medical care, no nothing. But tough as nails and strong and sinewy as a horse. Just the sort of peasant, no doubt, used by Emperor Shi for his army, and just the sort of peasant who ransacked that extravagant tomb under different command later. Just

74 the sort of peasant, too, who overthrew the Ming Dynasty 1800 years after that and who is now such a source of worry to the communist authorities in Beijing. But tyrants never learn.

They are still living and farming the way peasants did in Europe for thousands of years until maybe a couple of centuries ago.

10 74 the sort of peasant, too, who overthrew the Ming Dynasty 1800 years after that and who is now such a source of worry to the communist authorities in Beijing. But tyrants never learn. They are always preparing their own gravediggers or graverobbers in Emperor Shi s case. Peasant life in China is actually a sort of museum. They are still living and farming the way peasants did in Europe for thousands of years until maybe a couple of centuries ago. They winnow grain by tossing it into the air with winnowing-fans, letting the wind blow away the chaff while the ears of grain fall to the ground again. I saw women doing this by the road side and whole groups of peasants doing it on roads that they had entirely commandeered for the purpose (roads provide the most readily available flat and solid base on which to do the winnowing).

I could have stayed for hours observing this peasant and village life.

11 75 The whole thing was fascinating to watch. Images conjured up in school days by the poems of Homer, Hesiod, and Virgil were being played out before my very eyes. I could have stayed for hours observing this peasant and village life. Unfortunately, I had to be back in Xian both to catch my return flight to Beijing and to see the famed Forest of Steles. This is a museum that houses hundreds of tall stone monuments with carved script that go back over centuries. They provide one of the main sources for the evolution of Chinese characters, for the art of calligraphy, and for ancient Chinese history. There was one stele in particular

12 76 that I wanted to see. It records the first presence of Christianity in China going back to the early 600s AD. Written in Chinese and originally thought to be from the Nestorians (one of the old semi-heretical sects that arose in the Eastern Mediterranean during the controversies over the Incarnation), it now seems to be simply from Syrian monks and not unorthodox at all. Anyway it records what looks like a thoroughly indigenized Christianity (not the expression of an alien presence). Unfortunately that Christianity disappeared a century or so later when the emperor of the day started an anti-religious campaign, and Christianity only reappeared with the Franciscans in the 1200s. That presence too later disappeared (perhaps for similar reasons) and it was not until 1600 when Christianity came back with the Jesuits and in particular Matteo Ricci. Doctrinal controversy (precisely over how Chinese the Christianity should be) ensured that that presence too would be partial and the great surge of Christian activity, both Catholic and Protestant, only came in the 1800s with the dominance of China by the European powers. When the communists took over in 1949 and unceremoniously (though rightly) kicked the foreigners out, Christianity and all religions suffered terribly. Things are much better now of course, and not least because for the first time in centuries the Christianity here is able to be of and for the Chinese and not a mere extension of the culture of Europe. That is one thing to be grateful to the communists for, even if it has happened despite their intention (which was

over a cup of green tea in a nearby street café.

13 77 to abolish religion altogether). At all events I duly saw the stele (distinctive for having a cross carved in it at the top), photographed it, bought a rubbing of it (in a nicely bound book), and then lazily lounged over a cup of green tea in a nearby street café. I then had a couple of hours before I had to be at the airport to fly back to Beijing, so I took the opportunity to walk along the ancient walls that have been very well preserved and still surround the city of Xian. I was particularly fascinated by some of the window carvings in the watch towers, as well as reminded that the swastika was not original to the Nazis but has a long history in Oriental art. All the Nazis did was reverse the swastika the other way.

14 An enjoyable and successful trip. 78

Food memoir final 100 of 100

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