Highlights of China

The Terracotta Warriors. Xian


When I was fourteen I remember watching with mouth agog at the news reports of the discovery of the terracotta warriors in Xian, China. They were accidentally discovered by a group of farmers who were drilling a well for water. They came across some unusual pieces of pottery. The authorities heard about it and a delegation was sent to examine the pieces of pottery. It was quickly identified as pottery from around the time of the first Emperor and this was quickly relayed to more senior officials. Shortly followed a massive influx of archaeologists who started to dig and found the terracotta warriors who were supposed to be the guards of the tomb of the First Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang who was born around 259BC. He inherited the throne at the age of 13 years old and began building his own mausoleum which took 11 years to build.

Hearing that they had been discovered by rural farmers drilling a well for water near Xian I wrongly assumed Xian would be a little rural village. WRONG. Xian is infact a major city of over 8 million people and the actual site of the warriors is some distance from the city about an hours drive away. It was once the capital city of China and is quite historical in itself.

The mausoleum was a massive complex and he ordered that the tomb should be guarded by an army to deter grave robbers. In his mausoleum he would have been buried with lots of treasure and valuable items including pottery jewellery and weapons so that his existence in the after life would be as comfortable as it was on earth.

It appears that over the many years that it had been buried it had in fact been discovered by grave robbers who stole lots of valuable pieces they had also tried to destroy the terracotta statues by smashing them to bits and trying to set fire to them.


The terracotta warriors are housed in three massive hanger type buildings and less than a quarter of them have been unearthed so far. Estimates put the terracotta warriors of around 8000 statues plus 130 chariots and 520 horses. They have been painstakingly dug out of the earth covering them. Some of the pieces were broken so they have been put back together. What is absolutely amazing no two terracotta warriors are the same each individual warrior is different in some way either by the size of their eyes, the nose, mouth, moustache, uniform the way they are standing, the arms they are holding it is truly remarkable to see so many variations of the warriors. The body was made separately from the heads arms and legs which were then individually added and facial expressions added to ensure each one was unique.

Once the warrior was made he was placed in one of the pits according to the rank he was supposed to represent. Generals were taller than normal soldiers and would take pride of place at the front of each column. There followed chariots with three warriors riding it and being led by a footman, archers, infantrymen all lined up in front of each other in columns that were in long corridors that were lined with bricks to support the wooden roof which was covered in clay then covered in earth. There are signs of burning as the grave robbers tried to destroy evidence of there misdeeds. Each of the warriors held real weapons of which many had been stolen however those weapons that were found were incredibly well preserved and razor sharp. The lead arrow heads were said to have been impregnated with poison

Two massive bronze chariots were also discovered which were adorned with 1700 pieces of gold and silver on them. These are housed in a separate hall and are still completely intact fortunately not having been discovered by the grave robbers. There are 3400 separate parts to each of the chariots which indicates the kind of skilled workmanship that went into making each of them.


The terracotta warriors are a magnificent sight to see and the amount of workmanship that had taken place to build the tomb must have been a monumental task and taken ages. It was said that the workers who created the warriors were buried alive but there is no evidence of this also the people who finished off the burials had their tongues removed so they would not divulge the secret burial site to anyone but again there is no real evidence of this and may just be stories made up to make it more mystical and mysterious.

The grounds are very beautiful with areas to sit and relax in with ornamental ponds and trees dotted around. There are cafeterias and also gift shops to buy souvenirs of the warriors and other bits and pieces. There are some local hawkers who will try to sell you boxes of imitation warriors. Although there were many visitors when we went the place is so vast you do not feel crowded at all. You walk around the outside of the great halls looking into the pits and you are free to take photos.

It costs 90 Yuan to visit the museum which was equivalent to just under two pounds for the visit. This was remarkable value considering the historical nature and the vastness of the find. I would heartily recommend a visit if you are in China as it is well worth it and a memory you will never forget.

The summer palace is perhaps one of my favourite places we visited in Beijing. It is approximately ten miles from the centre of Beijing.You can get there by bus or taxi the fares are very cheap. A lot of taxi drivers can not speak English so when you go out make sure the hotel gives you a card with the name of the hotel on it so you can show it to the driver.

The summer palace is massive and was built for the Royal family to escape from the city for rest and relaxation. There used to be great processions when they moved there during the very hot summer months away from the heat and noise of the city.

The palace is surrounded by mountains and lakes and is so picturesque and peaceful. There is a massive Buddhist temple that overlooks the Palace and stands majestically overlooking the main lake. Parts of the lake were man made to the whim of various Emperors but the most notable was the Dowager Empress Cixi who spent the whole of the Chinese navy budget on her follies causing the Chinese to lose the war against the Japanese invasion.

Dowager Empress Cixi was a manipulative woman who acted as Emperor after the death of her husband as her son was too young to act as Emperor. When he was old enough to take the reigns of power she manipulated him and was infact still the power behind the throne. The son died and she appointed a grandson to the role of Emperor another one she could manipulate. In the latter part of the 18th century she announced that she was going to retire to the summer palace however she continued to rule China from there via the courtiers who accompanied her.

The palace is very vast and opulent no expense was spared in the building the palace. There are over 3000 different structures within the grounds including bridges one of which has 17 arches, pavilions, palaces, towers, pergolas, and the long walk which is a highly decorated covered walkway along the shores of the lake. The most expensive folly of all is the massive Marble Boat she had built at the side of the lake where she used to dine and entertain her guests and important visitors. The Kunming Lake was man made and all the earth from the excavation was used to build the massive hill called longetivity hill where the Buddhist temple is built. There are other buildings built around the hill which were built to impress the empress.

Basically the palace is divided into four areas:

Front hill area where most of the buildings are situated in front of the lake and the hill including the Gate and Hall of dispelling clouds, the hall of sea and wisdom, the Buddhist temple and the hall of moral glory.

The court area this is where the Empress would meet court officials conducting business and affairs of state.She had sumptuous apartments and her lover was ensconced within the palace grounds with his own apartments. This is also where you will find the long walk gallery.

The Front lake area is where the great man made Lake Kunming is made including the small island and the seventeen arched bridge and various statues around the lake plus the marble boat.

The rear hill area is the backdrop to the palace gardens which gives wonderful views in the background from where ever you are standing. There are landscaped walks and thick coverings of trees, formal gardens and bridges. It is supposed to represent everything there is about China its natural beauty.

The most notable areas.

The Front lake area this is probably one of the best places to view the lake, the palace, long walk, the Buddhist temple and the rear hill area in the background. Boats ply across the lake taking tourists from the end of the long walk beside the marble boat over to the small island where you can walk over the seventeen arched bridge.

The Palace.

You can walk around the palace and the palace rooms set around little courtyards. In the courtyards are small ornamental trees and bronze statues. The buildings are in Chineses style and painted red with golden slated roofs and the dragons running down the four points of the roof indicating that it is a royal residence. There are various halls around the palace all with designated uses for official business and then the ones for relaxation and entertainment. They are beautiful to look at and either enter or look through the windows admiring the contents of each room as not all of the rooms are open to the public.

The long Walk.

The long walk is a covered walkway built in the 1800’s built of wood and slating roof which is intricately painted. There are 14, 000 such paintings along the inside of the roof and arches and on the pillars supporting the roof. They look stunning and are very fine telling stories. Every so often you come to an round area where they would have stood to observe the views around the lake. Here the ceiling of the roof is brilliantly decorated and in each section of the rounded area is painted with different Chinese scenes. The long walk is nearly 728 metres long.

The Marble boat.

The original wooden boat burnt down so the Dowager Empress spent the money earmark for the Navy to build this pavilion. It is a two story structure ornately carved out of marble. It is built in the style of a paddle steamer and is 36 metres long where the Empress used to hold banquets and entertain her guests. There are little pieces of coloured glass and a large mirror giving the impression that it is bigger than it actually is. At the four corners there are dragons any falling rain drains through their mouths. The marble boat looks beautiful reflecting in the lake.


The Island.

Catching the little motor launch to Nanhu Island is next thing we did. All the boats are built in the Chinese design with their typical pointing roofs and nicely painted. The views of from the lake are wonderful and then when half way across you can see the majestic Buddhist temple on top of the hill in all its glory standing resplendent on its peak. The island is man made and is about 3 acres with a hall and temple on it. There are planted trees and the grounds are landscaped attempting to create a natural look.

The seventeen arched bridge.

From a distance this white bridge looks as if it could be made from marble but it is made of stone. It is supposed to replicate Lougou Bridge in Beijing which is also known as Marco Polo Bridge after he described it as the most beautiful bridge he had ever seen. There are 544 individually carved stone lions and each one different decorating the bridge. The bridge has seven arches the middle arch representing the son of heaven the Emperor and the 8 arches either side representing 8 revered by the Chinese as a lucky number. It is very picturesque and the reflection in the lake is beautiful each arch giving the impression that it is a circle.

Suzhou Market Street.

A small replica was built by the Emperor of a scene from the picturesque water town of Suzhou with tiny little shops and stalls built around it. This was so that the royal ladies from the palace could experience the joys of shopping. The shops used to be manned by the eunuchs who would serve the concubines acting out scenes as if it were true to life.


The park as a whole.

The palace park is beautifully laid out it is very peaceful with lots of vistas giving absolutely wonderful views as far as the eye can see right out to the surrounding mountains. The lakes, towers, pavilions and statues dotted around the grounds are very beautiful sights here. Everything is built to give pleasure on the eye. It must have been a magnificent sight to see all the pomp and ceremony when the Emperor or the dowager Empress Cixi moved the court here. The parade of soldiers horses, scribes, advisors, and the ornate sedans, the accompanying luggage moving in unison to the banging of drums and fireworks paving the way out to the palace. There would have been lots of the workers standing en route cheering and bowing at the Emperor or Empress as they passed by.

For me the palace was one of the most enjoyable visits in Beijing and although we only spent half a day here I think you could spend at least a whole day here. I would definitely return to the summer palace when we return to Beijing.

The cost of entry is only about 70 Yuan which is just over one pound.

This should definitely be on your places to visit list when in China.

The Ming tombs.

The Ming tombs are about 30 miles to the North of Beijing where tombs of the 13 of the 16 Ming Emperors from the Ming Dynasty are built. Only 11 emperors are actually buried here as two of them were buried elsewhere. One was buried in Nanjing the former capital of China.

The other Emperor Jingtai was denied an imperial burial by his brother and was instead buried as a prince towards the east of Beijing. Tiansun was the original Emperor but was kidnapped and held by the Mongols during a war. Eventually the government installed Jingtai his brother to the throne. After 8 years the Mongols released Tiansun but Jingtai carried on as the Emperor so when he died and Tiansun was installed he refused to allow his burial with the other Emperors such was his anger towards Jingtai for refusing to step down and handing him back the power. It is believed that he was poisoned by the eunuchs under the orders of Tiansun.

To reach the tombs you have to walk along the sacred way which is a long avenue lined by statues of men and animals both real and fictional. There are elephants, horses, lions and camels representing the vastness of china. The fictional statues are a unicorn and dragon. The statues are in pairs opposite each other 18 pairs or 36 all together all carved out of a single piece of stone. It is very pleasant and peaceful to walk along the sacred way and look at each of the statues. Some are standing some are lying down they are remarkable. It takes approximately twenty minutes to half an hour to walk along at a pleasant comfortable pace.

At the start of the Sacred way there is a large arch to go through and because the Emperor is revered as the son of heaven the avenue represents the avenue to heaven. The archway is the biggest stone archway in the whole of China and it contains a massive statue of a turtle with the head of a dragon, there are hundreds of Chinese character inscriptions on the block of the statue rising up from its back and it apparently weighs in at 50 tons,

After the relaxing walk along the sacred way you reach a smaller arched tower and beyond that the compound to one of the burial sites. The burial sites cover an area in total of 40 Kms. You enter the compound through archways which opens up into a large courtyard with a few statues in it. Then there are some marble statues that lead up to a vast hall now displaying some of the relics and items from the tombs. After leaving this great hall you come to a massive mausoleum which you can go to the top of via a steep ramp inside the tomb. The emperor is actually buried in chambers under the ground and a hill built up and over it. The mausoleum is very grand and painted red. The view from the top overlooks a large area.

Currently there are only 3 tombs open to the public it is a very peaceful place and there are various landscaped gardens to walk around and the compounds of the tombs are interesting to look at. The buildings are all painted red similar to that of the Forbidden City in Beijing. I would say that this is a worthwhile visit and normally this is visited after a visit to the Great Wall of China.


Would I recommend a visit?

I don’t think it is worth coming out especially to see the tombs but was good to visit on a stop off en route back to Beijing. The price for entry to the Ming Tombs is about 30 Yuan which is about 60 pence. The buildings are quite attractive and interesting to see especially the views from the top of the mausoleum. The compound is very pretty with the water features surrounding canal which gives the impression that it is a moated building on the inside of the compound.

We were advised to use the toilets here and our guide said these toilets were perhaps the only five star toilets in the country and we would never see toilets again like these anywhere else and I can vouch for that he was true to his word they were extremely clean and well cared for and proper European style toilets unlike the holes in the ground type toilets found in lots of places..

The Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall of China is one of the most wonderful sights you are likely to see on your trip to china. It is a magnificent structure that apparently can be seen from outer space although there is some debate whether this is true. It stretches for over 5000 miles across the whole of china from the desserts in the West right to the sea in the East over mountains. Building of the great wall started approximately 476 years BC and was finally completed during the Ming Dynasty in about 1644.

The wall was originally built to try and stop the Northern nomadic tribes from invading China and they just kept building and building the wall. The wall was built by local people soldiers and criminals. Many lost their lives during the construction of the wall but there has never been an accurate account of exactly how many died.
There are a variety of landscapes the wall is built on including the mountainous region about 40-50 miles north of Beijing. It’s absolutely amazing to think that these people moved all these stones rocks and boulders to make this great wall on the top of the mountains. Many parts of the wall are unsafe and in a state of disrepair due to wear and tear caused by weather and also local people stealing the stones to build their own houses.

The part of the wall we visited is one of the most visited parts of the Great Wall at Badaling which is only about 45 miles from Beijing. Here the wall has been repaired and you are able to walk up either side. There is a small charge of about 45 Yuan which is just under a pound. We were advised once we got to the wall to turn right because that is the easiest route. Mind you it seemed like the whole of China was there as well and all were told to take the right hand side. There were hundreds of school kids all looking at those funny white westerners wondering where we came from some brave little chaps said Hello but that was about all they could muster,
There were groups of men and women whether they were out on days out from their works I don’t know then there were tourists from all over the world Italians, French, German, Japanese, Americans, Australians and New Zealand.

The wall is quite wide and apparently it had to be wide enough so that rows of horses five abreast could walk along the wall where ever they were needed fast. As the wall is on the top of the mountains you can imagine that the steps were of differing heights some short steps some long some tall some short. It really is quite wearing on the legs. I laughed and asked is this really the easiest route? Along the wall are small look out posts where soldiers would be stationed looking out towards the north in case of invasion. The system they used to alert invasions were smoke signals a small puff of smoke used to go up and one bang on the drum to indicate 100 invaders, 2 bangs of the drum which meant there were about 500 invaders and 3 bangs would mean there were about a thousand. This was relayed along the wall between watch towers so that the army could be mobilised as quickly as possible. They were particularly worried about invasion by the Mongols who were particularly fierce warriors.

Reaching the peak of the first watch tower we looked down into the valley below. The watchtower gave commanding views for miles around. Ahead we could see another watch tower they are obvious for as far as the eye can see. We made it to the fourth watch tower before having to return to the meeting point. The wall just goes on and on and on higher and higher into the mountains and down into the valleys as far as the eye can see. It really is a remarkable sight.

Thinking that it would be a doddle going down let me stress right here and now it certainly isn’t. It really plays on your calves and you certainly know you have walked the Great Wall. On our way down it started to rain and this made the path very slippery and we saw several people take a tumble so be aware of this. There were paintings for sale near to the entrance of the wall which were very cheap and at one of the look out posts there were some stalls set up to sell trinkets and a camel you could pose with and have your picture taken with the views of the great wall in the background. At the bottom of the wall there are some cannon guns that had been used on the wall in the past from the 1800’s and apparently they still worked but were just there for show.

Reaching the meeting point down below in the square we then walked to the coach park we passed lots of little shops selling souvenirs and nick naks from small items to massive jade sculptures. All shops expect you to haggle over the prices. There are restaurants and cafés here too selling all kinds of foods.

If you are not feeling up to walking there is a cable car ride that you can take to the summit of the Great Wall at Badaling and there is also some kind of slide adventure thing you can take down a little bit like a toboggan run which looked fun. It is very commercialised here and by driving a few more miles further you can reach parts of the wall and it is practically deserted no other tourists or sight seers for miles around. Sadly in places the wall is but a ruin and can be very dangerous to walk on great care needs to be taken when walking on the wall.

If you ever go to China the great wall is a definite attraction to see and experience.

This is a city built for the Chinese Emperor who was cocooned in the vast city within a city. Building started on the palace in 1406 and it took 16 years to build. Over one million workers were involved in the building of it and precious woods and marble were used from all corners of China. In total it housed 24 Emperors 14 from the Ming Dynasty and 10 from the Qing Dynasty.

As the most of the palace is made primarily of rare woods it has during its history experienced many fires. There are massive bronze cauldrons filled with water in case of fire throughout the palace. The fires were started both accidently and on purpose. There was an abundance of use of lanterns which sometimes caused a fire. Fireworks were another cause of fires.

The rectangular shaped palace is surrounded by a massive 29 foot high wall which is 28 feet wide at the base and 21 feet wide at the top and it has four entrances. The city is surrounded by a water filled moat 170 foot wide. At each corner there is a large watchtower. The South entrance was used by the Emperor that is now adorned with a massive picture of Chairman Mao Tse Tung.

There are five arched entrances in the south wall the middle entrance is the largest only the Emperor was permitted to enter. After this entrance there was a stone flanked walkway through to the palace that only the Emperor was allowed to walk on. Anyone who dared attempt to enter the palace by this entrance was executed by beheading. The other entrances were used by different grades of ministers according to their rank.

The palace is divided into two parts and the first courtyard where ceremonial and business meetings took place and then the inner courtyard which was the living quarters of the palace for the Emperor and his concubines.

Walking through the centre archway you come into a massive open courtyard which is a huge open area with a river flowing through it. Here there is a military presence on the right hand side for the red army whose role is the ceremonial guard duties around the palace and in Tiananmen Square. They have a practice area here for marching and perfecting their high leg swings. This leads to five bridges that cross the river to reach the gate of the Supreme Harmony.

When you have gone through this gate you enter the square of the supreme harmony and standing majestically the magnificent Hall of the Supreme harmony appears before you and two other great halls, the hall of central harmony and the hall of preserving memory. The Hall of supreme harmony was used for coronations, investitures and imperial weddings. The halls are ornately decorated and painted with intricate paintings on the ceilings.

The ramp leading up to the Hall of supreme harmony is 150 feet of solid marble that had been hand carved with dragons and other delightful carvings. At the base of the ramp there is a pair of lions standing guard. The roofs of the buildings within the palace all had golden coloured tiles which denoted that royalty lived there. They were decorated with sets of dragons down the edges of the roof.

Reaching the inner courtyard you are now entering the private quarters of the Emperor and those of his concubines. There are three more massive halls called the hall of the palace of heavenly purity lived in by the Emperor, the union hall and the palace of earthly tranquillity the empresses quarters. Only the emperor was permitted to be dressed in golden or yellow coloured garments. Only the Emperor and Empress were permitted to eat off gold or silver plates.

After this great collection of buildings are minor quarters where the concubines lived. There are music rooms, tea rooms, sleeping quarters, courtyards, gardens and various rooms where activities took place.

The only men other than the Emperor that were allowed in this area were Eunuchs who were there to protect the women of the harm. The Eunuchs had their testicles removed which were placed in a small box so that when they died they could be buried with them otherwise they believed they would never enter heaven as they would have been incomplete and would be damned to walk the earth for eternity never being able to rest.

The method of castration was particularly barbaric the man was sat in a chair with a hole in it and a swift swing of the knife removed his testicles in one fair swoop. Many men died bleeding to death but for those who survived it lead to a fairly comfortable life. At the beginning of the Qing dynasty there were 9000 Eunuchs in the palace and only 1800 by 1908. Life was very harsh for the Eunuchs and many were executed for the most simplest of reasons.

When the Emperor wanted one of the concubines he would decide which one he wanted to spend the night with. She was washed and bathed by the eunuchs and all hair from below her chin was removed. She was wrapped in a yellow cloth and carried to the Emperors room. This ensured that no weapons were concealed about her person. Once the deed had been completed she was not permitted to spend the night with the emperor but slept in an ante room. The date and time of the union was recorded in case there was a resulting pregnancy.


Towards the back of the palace is the north gate. There is the dragon’s wall with a relief of 9 dragons along the wall. It is brightly coloured with blue glazed tiles and it is quite beautiful.

The Forbidden City is a fantastic collection of rooms and hallways all decorated in red and gold. There is no way that you would see everything on one visit as the palace has 980 buildings within the palace and 9,999 including ante rooms.