Han Dynasty Tombs

Xuzhou was the capital city during the Han Dynasty. Naturally there were terra-cotta warriors and a tomb that people could visit and spend money at. Since we didn't see the Ming Dynasty tombs while we were in Nanjing, Patrick and I decided to spend one of days off visiting these tombs.

When we arrived at the tombs we got in for half price because we told them we were students and got a discount. The tombs are mostly a huge garden with multiple museums and buildings. After wandering around for a while we found a huge Buddhist temple with paintings of the family of the emperor of that time. We also found a museum with a bunch of rubbings in it. Apparently, the Han Dynasty is known for it's stone work which was then made into rubbings. The translations at this place weren't very clear so I am guessing when I say that. We eventually found some of the terra-cotta warriors. The place where they were found was underwater so the building housing these was half way underwater and halfway above water. The statues here were about 2 1/2 feet tall and were warriors on horses. After that we went to another building that had statues in it that were about a foot tall. Not very impressive but still cool to look at since they are thousands of years old. There were three displays in this building. One was just a glass case that had dirt in it that supposedly had warriors still buried there. The second had some of the dirt moved away and the third had completely unearthed warriors.

The coolest part of this place was the mausoleum of the king or emperor or whatever during that time. As with Egyptian kings, the Chinese would create a huge underground house for the deceased emperor filled with food and gold for the afterlife. The place was huge and dark and very wet. It was like being in a cave. The ceilings were quite low and the rooms where jewels and food were kept were small. At the end of a long hallway with rooms on each side was a replica of the coffin (the original is in a national museum). The coffin is the shape of a man made of jade and gold wire.

I have to admit that I expected a lot more from this place but it was still interesting to see none-the-less.

Pictures from the outing.