The first day was spent touring a museum and visiting the Banpo archeological site. The site itself is an ancient village that had been unearthed just outside of the city. Before entering the dig, we were taken to a dark and musty building which housed pottery remains and brief descriptions of what is known of the Banpo people. After entering the site (a large warehouse has been built to cover and protect the findings), we were led by a tour guide who proudly explained the different types of structures at the site. We'd been hearing that the Banpo people had a matriarchial society, but as we walked through the museum, the evidence for this claim seemed to be missing. Finally, at the end of the tour I asked the tour guide on what basis it is believed that these people lived in a matriarchial society. She replied that several graves had been uncovered and archeologists were surprised to discover that the women were buried with more pottery than the men. The evidence still doesn't seem to be as strong as everyone at the site made it out to be, but I'll accept it for now.
As the tour guide was pointing out the different foundations, she pointed to a large hole in the ground. This, she said, was were the Banpo people kept their grain. Obviously everyone shared and there was no sense of property. Is archeology always this much guess work?
The second day we were taken to the Terracotta Warriors museum. On the way there we had the opportunity to see a nearby site where some armour had been uncovered. We weren't allowed to take any photos, but we were allowed to go down into the pits and take a closer look.
We were officially recieved at the Terracotta museum by the director of the site. Every place we went on this trip we were officially recieved. Each time the group would take turns shaking hands with the curator or director, then we would be led to a reception room and given tea. Meanwhile, our professors would proclaim how wonderful the site was and how wonderful the director was. The directors in turn would praise our professors, with exclamations on both sides like "we could really learn from you!" and "your university is so advanced!" clearing the way for a free lunch.
The museum itself was awesome. We entered the complex through the back gate, past the photos of world leaders visiting the site, and into the reception building. After the obligitory guanxi session, we were allowed to roam around free. In addition to the site most seen in photographs, the comlex houses a smaller museum, a gift shop, a restaurant and another dig site where soldiers still lie broken upon the ground.
The director of the site ended up treating us to lunch where as always, the food was wonderful. I took a picture of a terracotta vegetable, and posted it below. After lunch, all the students went outside to wait for the professors to finish eating. Sarah and I sat in a garden near the back of the complex. We were in the middle of a conversation when a Chinese man approached and tried to sell us a box of terracotta figurines. I told him I didn't want any, and as I was speaking, a group of about half a dozen young men surrounded us. The guy with the figurines lowered his price down to one US dollar, and then when I still refused, he said, "free?" No.
We got up and walked away to join the rest of our group. When we got there we were told that the group of men had entered the complex, hopped the fence, five minutes later came back over the fence, and were just now hiding behind some bushes. All we could conclude was that they were gift shop thieves.
When we weren't visiting archeological sites we were touring around the city. Sarah and I rented bicycles and rode atop the city wall. We spent one evening at the "Street of Islam" eating street food and buying dried fruit. We also spent an afternoon shopping at a tourist market in the center of the city. Each evening we returned to the hotel to watch several hours of the National Geographic channel, the only English language television station available in Xi'an.
All in all we had a great time. I've posted some of the pictures below and will be posting the rest on my webshots account when I get the chance.
It was a great trip.
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