Xi'an

[Anthony Rodriguez]

A couple of interesting notes about Xi'an aside from the terracotta warriors of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (the obvious highlight)

Xi'an is a very multicultural / cosmopolitan city.  The city was the start (or end depending on your perspective) of the famed Silk Road trade route, one of the four great ancient capitals and also home to the one of the largest populations of practicing Muslims in China. In fact Xi'an was the first Chinese city to allow the practice of Islam as granted permission by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. The Great Mosque of Xi'an is a popular tourist destination and one of the largest Mosque complexes in China. Most of the practitioners of Islam in Xi'an are of the Hui ethnic minority group and number in about the 60,000 to 70,000 range within the city of 8 million, the Hui number about 10 million across China. During China's war with Imperial Japan many refugees from coastal Chinese cities being bombed were relocated to Xi'an, increasing it number of residents from various cultural diaspora. From everything I have read on Xi'an, it is that the city feels very much like frontier city. Many of it residents do not trace their heritage in Xi'an past a generation or so and the city has seen waves of cultural and political refugees settle there over various ages. This made me even more excited to explore Xi'an and its unique place as a geographical, travel and cultural hub of China.

I live just outside the Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut and an up and coming Chinese Food Chain called Xi'an Cuisine has opened up about a year ago to rave reviews. The proprietors are dedicated to bringing authentic Shaanxi cuisine to Connecticut and cities througout America. I frequent the establishemnt and everything they serve is delicious.

 

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/03/27/chinese-restaurant-opens-on-whitney/

[Kristen Waltz]

Xi'an Cuisine sounds delicious based on the review you linked! Authentic Chinese food is definitely one of the top 5 things I'm excited to experience on our trip. I can't wait to learn more about some of your points at the Shaanxi History Museum. I hope to learn a lot more about the diffusion of religion in China. I'm also curious to see what the Tang Dynasty Show entails. As you mentioned at the beginning of your post, the Terracotta Warriors will be a major highlight of our time in Xi'an. If anyone is interested, check out this NPR piece honoring the archaeologist who discovered them. He passed away earlier this week.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/20/612780909/archaeologist-who-uncovered-chinas-8-000-man-terra-cotta-army-dies-at-82

[Stephanie Kroop]

Thanks for adding the NPR article, it was interesting. Recently I came across this TED Ed video that would be great to use in class, covering the history and oringinal intention for the creation of the terracotta army. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP5p4QbvPtc&vl=en

[Dawn Linden-Wright]

 

In advance and short, my apology for not posting in this forum. I did listen when in the application it was noted this was not an opportunity to go to China to shop.  The introduction could not have been aware of the demands of being in a brand-new school for a first year.  The demands of building community and curriculum have gotten the best of me in the last month and I have not been as conscientious as I should have been about posting.  That is not to say I have not been doing research along the way and using many of the resources on the USC page in my classroom study of China. 

From studying China with my students for the past ten years I probably did not need to know anymore.  Seeing football field size terra cotta warriors (that are not terra cotta) would be enough for me but so much more to Xian.  As I am sure you have noted in your own research, Xian is credited as being the birth place of the Chinese civilization.   When Emperor Qin in short order organized the Warring States under his control.  If I were to venture a guess, I would say he was a prototype of a modern dictator very self-serving.  Maybe you have to be to be an emperor.  In any case, he did assemble an army to protect him in his afterlife and hence the Terra Cotta warriors. He died young although in his life he was always searching for the key to immortality.    One of the amazing things about the Terra Cotta warriors is that they were not discovered until the 1970s so unlike many other archeological finds the warriors were not destroyed by vandals and have not been appropriated to museums across the world.  They are all still intact in their original country and location In addition, the late discovery has allowed numerous missteps in archeology to be avoided -technology in archeology just keeps getting better.  It is interesting to note that they have yet to open the actual tomb of Qin and there are no public plans to do so now.  It piques my curiosity to see what is inside the actual mound.   Maybe Qin will have a last laugh on us and nothing is inside. 

Obviously the most recognizable artifact to witness in Xian is the Warriors but not the only one.   Qin was the first to lay the foundations of what would eventually become the Silk Road.  Xi’an was a major hub along the way.  That is evident in the nine-mile wall that was built around the Imperial Palace and restored in 1370 CE. 9 Miles wow, wonder what the imperial palace was like.  

Intersectionality of cultures is a major theme in my classroom and there are two areas of Xian that I think speak well to this theme.   First, the Muslim Quarter, Friends have told me there is amazing street food here and great market shopping.  However, I have to say what interests me more is the Great Mosque which was built during the Ming Dynasty.  While it has classic Chinese architecture on the outside, it houses Islamic art inside.  Something I hope to get a peek at during our visit.  It’s not very far from the city walk so maybe just a quick peak.  The main prayer area is not open to the public so it will be a limited view.   The second interesting intersect from my perspective is The Big Wild Goose Pagoda or Temple of Kindness and grace.  It was constructed in 652 AD in the hope of brining Master Xuazang a noted interpreter of Sanskrit sacred text in India back to China.  The pagoda was built with bricks and uses no cement.  To stand the text of time is amazing.  

 

[Anthony Rodriguez]

After our visit, Xi'an met and exceeded my expectations. My initial look into it's history as an Islamic center was enriched by visiting the Muslim quarter and sampling the unique fusion of middle eastern and asian cuisine. Furthermore, the survival of an original sanskrit codex that was among the first Buddhist scriptures to be brought to China was invaluable to see as not only a religious artifact but a living example of how language evolves, migrates and disseminates ideas. In fact, that sanskrit codex seemed to be metaphorical for the entire city, it is a diaspora of cultures from India, the Middle East and asia, all contained within the best preserved/reconstructed city walls on Earth.

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