Army of Terracotta Warriors

It must be one of the grandest egotistical statements ever made. A Chinese emperor so full of himself that he builds a 8000 strong army of terracotta warriors, horses and chariots to defend his tomb. Complete in battle formation and weaponry the warriors stood guard over his tomb for 2000 years until it was discovered in the 1970's. The warriors themselves are incredible with stunning detail, with the varying ranks or infantry and officers each having the appropriate uniform, hairstyle, shoes, and armor. It is thought that the sculptures who made the warriors used themselves as inspiration for the faces and body style, so almost every warrior has slight differences between the others. Some stand very erect while others slouch slightly, some are broad shoulders while a few look rather scrawny. They are the perfect replica of a real army. When the tomb and army was discovered the warriors were in possesion of still sharp swords and spears that had been buried for 2000 years. It was found that the weapons had been coated with a protective chemical that was only discovered by the US and Germany before World War II. The history of China is immense, to think that they had highly civilized culture here when London was a grubby village on a bend of the river.
The rest of our time in Xi'an was spent viewing the sites around town and trying to minimize the impact of the thick shroud of smog. The pollution is so bad that some days it literally blocks out the sun. I also scored one of my great purchases on this trip, a 1969 authentic Chairman Mao 'little red book' complete with Chinese notations and all.