10/23/02 - Huaqing Spring, Terracotta Warriors, flying to ChongQing to board our cruise Princess Sheena. Guide: Ellen Zhou Li.

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Schedule for today was to visit the Huaquing Spring, Terracotta Warriors, then flying to ChongQing to board our cruise.

First thing: the drama continued in the hotel Lobby. As we were waiting for the group to assemble, the Politician walked over to Earvin and said, "I want to talk to you. It's none of your business. Stay out of it." Earvin just told the Politician to continue walking away from him since Earvin did not wish to speak with the Politician. The Politician got irritated and started calling Earvin names and said things like "you are stupid. You are shit." At one point, the Politician even challenged Earvin and said, "You want to fight?" I couldn't believe a 60-year-old neurologist would be so stupid to say something like that! Earvin said he knew the Politician was trying to stir up something and he wasn't falling for it. This is when I realized that the Politician wasn't someone with a normal functioning personality. It was pretty much understood amongst us that we were going to stay away from the Politician.

We visited the Huaqing Springs in the morning. This is the place where a famous concubine Lady Yang (Yang guifei) bathed in the Tang dynasty. This is significant because it shows how much the emperor favored Lady Yang and made an exception. Back in the days only the emperor could have his own dedicated hot spring tub. Lady Yang was granted her own hot spring tub, even though the empress didn't have her own.

Most of the buildings were built by the PRC to make this a tourist attraction. PRC did the research to find the approximate location and discovered the actual tubs during construction. I felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to see the original tubs where the emperor, concubine and servants used. Marie, Todd, and I also paid RMB $0.5 to feel the hot spring water.

About Huaqing Hot Springs
The hot springs are located 16 miles east of Xian at the foot of Mount Lishan in a large park where there are a number of public baths and some modern palaces built in the Tang style. The hot springs, rich in minerals, were highly regarded more than 3000 years ago. The Tang Emperor Xuanzong often spent the winter here in the company of his favorite concubine, Yang Guifei. Shortly afterwards, however, all the buildings were destroyed by war. The new baths constructed in 1956 include one called the Bath of Yang Guifei (Guifei - Honorable Concubine).

We also visited the location where the Xian incident took place during Chinese civil war. I saw the 5 rooms that Chiang Kai-Shek used to occupy when he was in Xian, and the bullet holes on the wall. The rooms were fairly small and didn't have much in them. I only remember 4 out of the 5 rooms: an office, a bedroom, a study, and a guard's room.

In the afternoon we visited the Terracotta Warriors. Before we started our tour, we took a group picture with Ellen. Ellen is a very petite, 24-year old girl. She told us that her family was originally from ChungQing. Her parents decided to move to Xian for the children's education. I think she said she's been in Xian for 10 years. Ellen is very soft spoken, and very professional. Besides giving historical background of the places we visited, she would tell jokes and stories to keep our interests high. I thought that was a pretty smart move. Although some of the others thought she was a bit wooden, as if she was acting out a role. I guess in a way she was. I don't have any idea as to how these tour guides were being trained, but I am sure they all had to memorize some sort of templates.

Ellen also shed some lights on how difficult it is for the general public in China to obtain a visa to the U.S. She said that before anyone applies for a visa to the US, he/she must first collect proofs of residency and criminal background from the local police station, and proofs of attendance from all the schools he/she has ever attended. Those are just documents required. They do not improve one's chance of getting a visa. More often than not, one will get rejected for no reason. I am sure the governments have their concerns. However, I pray that the situation will change after 2005.

We saw three opened pits. It was such a sight that I couldn't take it all in at once. It's hard to appreciate the value of these terracotta warriors when I know it's the result of a cruel demand of one person, Qin Shi-Huang. The question is, if Qin Shi-Huang wasn't cruel and did not demanded that thousands of lives be buried with him, the craftsmen would not have had to come up with this clever idea of using terracotta copies of warriors to save the innocent lives. If it wasn't because Qin Shi-Huang's demand, we would not have the opportunity to see these magnificent terracotta warriors. In addition to contributing to the art history, these terracotta warriors also gave us a glimpse of what the military system was like in the Qin dynasty. Culturally and archeologically speaking, Qin Shi-Huang's demands have made a great contribution. But at what price? If we had the opportunity to change history, would we allow this to happen? Perhaps I am thinking too much. After all, it is a done deal.

About Terracotta Warriors
In 1974 a group of peasants digging a well, made what was to become the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century when they unearthed fragments of a life sized Terra Cotta Warrior. Excavation of the vault revealed thousands of warriors and their horses, an entire army designed follows its emperor into eternity.

The site is located 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) east of the Qin Mausoleum. The emperor's terra cotta army was found in three underground timber lined vaults. Pit 1 contained chariots and ranks of six thousand soldiers. Pit 2 held fourteen hundred figures of cavalrymen, horses and infantrymen, along with ninety wooden chariots. Pit 3 contained about seventy figures. Excavating them has been a massive undertaking. To date, more than a thousand warriors have been reassembled.

Todd and I each bought a book on the terracotta warriors, autographed by one of the three farmers who discovered these terracotta warriors. The book cost each of us US$12, while our tour mates bought them for $5 outside. The only difference is the autograph. Do you think it's worth it? I do.

As I was stepping out of the museum gate, I was swamped by street vendors. I made the mistake of not negotiate carefully, and gave the vendor a dollar. Instead of the entire set of 5 terracotta warriors, he only wanted to give me one. We argued on the street for a long time, I even told the vendor that I didn't want it any more, asking him to just give me back a dollar. He simply kept negotiating with me. I started looking to see if I could find a police to help me. With my brother's help, I eventually got the set for RMB$10. At the time of the negotiation, other vendors surrounded my brother and I and that was getting a little freaky for me. My brother later told me that I should never hand over money until I have the merchandise in hand, and in retrospect, I agree with him. I've learned my lesson!

We then went directly to the airport and had dinner in a restaurant next to the security gate. When we arrived ChongQing, it was really late already. Thank god there was a local guide waiting to take us to the ship. The local guide gave some facts about ChongQing but I was too tired to listen. By the time we got into our cabins, it was already midnight.

Information on ChongQing: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/chongqing.htm