In September 2012 Karen
Patrick walked part of the Great Wall of China for Dementia Care.
Her story is related in her book 'Scaling the Dragon's Back' which is available from Amazon for Kindle, Barnes and Noble for Nook, on Kobo and on all other formats from theendlessbookcase.co.uk
The ebook is sold in support of Dementia Care.
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| A General showing the unique detailed facial features |
The Terracotta Warriors which are arguably the most
significant archeological find of the twentieth century guarded the tomb of
Emperor Qin Shi Hung which is located 25 kms to the east of Xian city. The
Terracotta Warriors were not discovered until 1974 by a local farmer digging a
well. The tombs and the life-size
figures of warriors and horses they contain lay undiscovered for over 2,000
years. Archeologists are learning a
great deal about the diversity and cultural mix of ancient China from the different
facial features of the Terracotta Warriors, each is unique. Altogether over 7,000 terracotta
soldiers, horses and chariots, made of wood and bronze, and various weapons
have so far been excavated from these pits.
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| An archer minus weapon |
The Emperor built the warrior army believing they would
follow him into immortality and defend him against his enemies in the
afterlife. I am not sure what he
expected to find in the afterlife when he got there, big trouble
obviously.
Originally the warriors would have carried weapons,
swords, crossbows, etc. These weapons for the most part were either looted by
robbers ransacking the tombs or have disintegrated over time. Three pits have so far been excavated. Further pits are as yet untouched and will
remain so until archeologists discover a way of preserving the statues once
they become exposed to the air. The
warriors are brightly coloured when first excavated but the colours quickly
fade once the figures are exposed to the air.
Number 1 Pit is the largest and the first one a visitor
sees. It contains columns of warriors at
the front, followed by chariots at the back.
Stepping up to the first pit and seeing the row upon row of pottery
infantrymen and horses literally took my breath away, it was a truly amazing
sight, awesome.
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| Pit 1. The first view the visitor sees |
I have one priceless memory of my visit which I shall
share here. As I have said, Pit 1 is
vast. Figures which have been excavated
and are being pieced together are placed towards the back of the pit. There is a large space between the warriors
on display and the repair area as I would call it. Here the statues had heads,
hands or feet wrapped in what looked like cling-film I assume for protection.
On this particular stage of our tour we were being followed by a group of
Americans, two middle aged couples obviously travelling together. The women had become separated from their men,
easily done in the crowds, and were standing directly behind me within ear shot
as we passed the repair area of the pit which contained the protected pottery
figures in the process of restoration.
The conversation as I recall it went something like this:
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| The hospital?! |
In the slow drawl of the southern United States.
"I wonder what this place was?"
"I dunno"
"Look they’ve got bandages on their heads"
“Oh yeh, so they have and on their hands too”
"Uh huh"
"It must have been the hospital"
"Yeh, I guess so"
Priceless, you
couldn't make it up.
Extracts taken from the ebook Scaling The Dragon’s Back,
The Great Wall Trek.
Copyright © 2012 Karen Patrick
Other blog posts about my visit to China and Great Wall Trek...
Other blog posts about my visit to China and Great Wall Trek...
- Reviews for 'Scaling The Dragon's Back' http://kephr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/reviews-for-scaling-dragons-back.htm
- Personal reflections of my visit to China
http://kephr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/personal-reflections-on-visiting-china.html
25 years on Tiananmen Square remembered http://kephr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/tiananmen-square-remembered-25-years-on.html - Impressions of visiting Beijing http://kephr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/beguiled-and-bewildered-in-beijing.html
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