Banqueting in Xian

Today we flew of from Beijing to Xian, best known for the Terracotta Warriors but in fact the cradle of a lot of Chinese culture particularly of the Han Dynasty. Our guide here is much younger and enthusiastic (and female) and managed to fit in a couple of visits prior to taking us to the hotel. The first was to the Hang Yang Lin Museum which is a massive complex of burial sites for the Han Dynasty covering several acres but still to be fully excavated. These tombs are interesting in that they show in much greater detail because they are using smaller figures the whole daily life of the emperors rather than just their warriors. You can see the tombs through a glass floor and then from the side at tomb level. The Han dynasty was much less war-like than Xin dynasty and lasted a lot longer (for four hundred years).

We then went for a banquet at one the tan theatres. This consisted of eighteen varieties of dumplings so we are feeling very stuffed tonight. It was accompanied by a women playing a zither like instrument on the stage which I have depicted in my blip.