Buried-army-land

Must be really getting old when I start beginning reminiscences with "I remember when..."

But I do remember vividly the first time I saw the Terracotta Buried Army in 1986. The sheer scale was totally unexpected.

The second time in 1996 was impressive because there were two new pits with even more impressive architecture and the new 360 degree cinema experience, telling the story of the discovery and history and making methods of the warriors.

This time however on our overnight class trip to Xi'an, I found it was a great disappointment because it has become a theme park.

As you leave you are forced to run the gauntlet down a newly constructed street of shops all selling the same reproduction rubbish no-one wants. As so often happens here you flee the barrage of shop assistants rather than stop to look. If only they would realise they would get more sales from Westerners if they got out of your face. I guess the hard sell hassle works every so often, so it pays off.

The most tragic this time was the 360 degree cinema. It obviously hasn't been maintained in eleven years. The film is so scratched and faded into pinks and greens, some projectors are out of focus while others have very varying light levels. Also they never shut off a session so the doors are being continually opened and closed or worse held permanently open by tour guides. They should learn professionalism and showmanship from other theme parks. A sad wasted opportunity, but no-one seemed to care. It's what you can get away with I guess. But now with DVD and projection state of the art I reckon it is time to get out those original negatives and revisit a great idea in a more acceptable form.

On the plus side the grounds are well maintained and the traffic flow worked so you never felt you were swimming in people. The walk uphill from the parking lot through a green parklike area was pleasant but too long at 20 mins in the heat (37 degrees). You could have taken large golf cart type transport, but his kind of defeated the purpose.

However the warriors remain untarnished as an experience. They have sat out much and continue to do so unphased. Although I reckon there were more uncovered the first time I was here, they are still an unbelievable piece of conceptual art. China is a big country and the visions are big pictures of big ideas like the Great Wall, The Chendu Irrigation Project, Tiananmen Square. So you can imagine the Emperor one day saying he would build a monument of thousands of lifesize reproductions of his soldiers and conceal them under ground for no-one to see. And the people did it.

Still one of the wonders of the world that any degree of gross commercialisation can't detract from.

Jxx