Journey to the West

Xi'an is one of Chinese history's oldest and most significant cities.  While today it is considered to be part of China's "west" and plays a key role in modern China's effort to develop westward, it is in reality exactly at the center of the Chinese mainland and plays more of a central role in Chinese history than many of the larger, more cosmopolitan cities of the east.  In fact, some of China's earliest inhabitants lived in and around what is today Xi'an over a million years ago, and actual fossil evidence of Lantian Man, who lived there at least 500,000, is on display at the Shaanxi History Museum.

More recently (as in within the past 3,000 years or so), several of the China's dynasties established their capitals in this area, including perhaps most importantly, the relatively brief but fiercely powerful Qin (pronounced like English "chin" hence "China"), which united a confused mass of warring states into a vast empire and ultimately modern China.  Emperor Qin Shi Huang was responsible for the unification of China's monetary, measurement, and writing systems, as well as the development of infrastructure, including canals, roads, and China's most iconic landmark, the Great Wall.

Granted, Emperor Qin Shi Huang ruled with an iron first of legendary ruthlessness.  Under his reign, countless slave laborers died while expanding his empire.  The saying goes that at least one man died for every brick in the Great Wall, stretching thousands of miles across China.  Additionally, the Emperor was intent on destroying any and all remnants of the past, including the classic Confucian and Daoist texts, which most fortunately have survived.

Xi'an today is perhaps best known around the world for what the Chinese like to call the "Eighth Wonder of the World," Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Warriors.  The collection of over 6,000 unique, hand-crafted, life-size terracotta figures is indeed one of the most breathtaking sites/sights I have ever seen.  What's more, this army of warriors, which also includes life-size horses and chariots, was found entirely by accident in 1974 by a group of peasants who were digging a well.  Instead of water, they unearthed one of the greatest archeological finds of all time, and the man whose spade first struck one of these warriors is himself part of the exhibit.  He concludes the tour, offering to take pictures with visitors and autograph copies of books about his discovery.  Since he is illiterate, however, and grew up not being able to write his own name, he continues to this day to draw a circle in place of a more formal signature.

Upon seeing the Terracotta Army for the first time from the main balcony of the colossal hall which houses the exhibit, a friend of mine remarked, "You know, it's sad.  I feel like we are so used to seeing mass production these days that this looks almost insignificant."  At first glance, he was right.  From afar, there doesn't appear to be anything particularly special about the army.  It was as if we were standing in the Terracotta Warrior Mfg. Co., Ltd. warehouse, inspecting the quality of the latest line of products.  However, upon further examination, we quickly discovered that it is exactly this fact about our modern production capabilities that makes the site so extraordinary.

As you approach the warriors and examine them more closely, you begin to observe that each has a unique face with its own expression, is dressed in clothes reflecting one of a series of military ranks, and is positioned to hold his weapon of choice in his own personal style.  It is exactly then that you start to understand how limited modern factory production really is, where everything looks exactly, exactly the same. Furthermore, in a time when indeed everything was done by hand, even if with tools, the sheer time and labor that it must have taken to create this vast army is beyond any modern conception.  To reproduce the army in the same way in today's world, the monetary costs alone would simply astronomical, and, for other reasons, I believe, would just simply be impossible.