Three Thousand Images 
The next city on our trip was Xian. Xian is best known as the city where the Terracota army is found. That is clearly the most exciting sight, but there is much more to Xian. The city is one of the oldest cities in Imperial China, dating back over 3000 years. The city is completely enclosed by a wall, originally designed for protection. Today, the locals walk, ride bikes, and celebrate various holidays around the wall. Xian was one of the most important ancient capitals of China and served as the home of the Emperor for some of the most important dynasties, including;
For more info on these dynasties, click on the dynasty to go to Wikipedia. The Terracota army is the number one attraction for tourists visiting Xian. It is an "army" of over 8000 full size Terracota statues made to protect the burial site of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Hang. The army is arrayed in battalions and buried in front of his grave. It was discovered by accident in 1974 by a local farmer drilling a well. The farmer is still alive today and will sign autographs at the museum at the site where the army is buried. A good part of the army has been unearthed and can be viewed inside large warehouse style structures. It is a full day trip from the city and well worth the effort.
"After we land, our bags arrive and we find Lily at the gate; our new guide. She is probably 24 years old with very kind eyes and a nice smile. She starts by telling us about the Hans and all the history of the area as we ride past many fields and small brick buildings (farm houses). I learned that some of the farmers live in the ground or they have built a facade up against a hill with a cave behind. I saw them walking down underground. It was cooler there."
"The Wild Goose Pagoda was beautiful with many long stories of the trip of Tripitaka or Xuánzàng to India to acquire the Buddhist principles. He brought them back and wrote them all down in this temple. He had to translate these himself since there was no paper and he was dealing with oral accounts. The goose (embodiment of the Buddha) saved him on this trip so he built the temple and it is still used today. The temple was beautiful and we went in one room where the whole journey to the West had been carved in marble."
"We finally arrived at the Terracota soldiers complex. It was about 105 degrees here. It was completed in the 1980s though they were still completing the mall of stores in the front. There are three HUGE pavilions or pits. It can probably hold 5000 tourists in the largest pit area. The soldiers are impressive. We take lots of pictures and see the original farmer, who found the soldiers when he was digging a well."
"The only place we had experienced a wall like this was in Lucca, Italy. It is a wide promenade with buildings built into it, and you could walk or ride bicycles for 13 km. We walked a ways and talked to Lily. We gave her our business cards. She told us about the city and her hopes. It was a beautiful day and we looked over the edge and could see the moat and on the other side, a large tree filled park that went around the moat."