Terracotta Warriors and our First Gig!
The first stop on our tour on 2
3rd November was at the Party's souvenir Terracotta Warrior and Lacquer-ware Factory. The quick tour around here was great, showing us how the original army was crafted and assembled. Hands and heads were fired separately and later assembled on site. Each on of the thousands of units had a unique facial expression and clothing. Some of the units would also have wooden bows or wooden swords which they'd rest-on (and subsequently fall over once the sword rotted!) The same thing happened to the wooden chariots and the situation wasn't helped when one of the warring tribes broke in and set fire to their previous Emporer's tomb in defiance. You can still see some of the fire damage. Nearly a million people 
worked on the massive tomb complex - a slightly frivalous use of resources I feel! Still it did result in an impressive sight.
The smaller halls of guards were not so impressive, well some weren't unearthed at all, awaiting new-fangled-technology to protect the paint which had worn off the other warriors since they'd been exposed to the air. We made sure we had the spot where the German student stood, pretending to be a Terracotta Warrior...apparently that in itself is quite an attraction now!
Also buried with the emporer were a number of other artifacts, including some beautiful quarter-scale replica chariots (the other warriors are lifesize or bigger) and amazingly a zinc-plated sword! Yes, in a year still suffixed by "BC" the Chinese had invented 3-micron-thick zinc plating! Pretty impressive. I asked our guide how the
knowledge was lost, as it did seem a bit of a silly thing to forget. It sounded like it was mainly due to the Chinese fretting that people would steal their knowledge...hence it knowledge was available to only a few select people who the died...oops!
A brief stop at another museum on the way back revealed that because I touched the claw of the Tiger first I shall apparently be wealthy and powerful, whilst touched the forehead so apparently warm fuzzy feelings will be a-plenty for him. You know how I know you're gay...
That evening we got playing one of the many Chinese dice drinking-games with a couple of English guys from the hostel and their mate the bar-owner! One thing led to another, as it always does when people get an idea in their head...the owner made us get up on stage and play our very first gig. It turned out to be a bit of a rendition of...well...anything we could remember whilst half-cut, so old-school oasis, a bit of Radiohead's Creep, House of the Rising Sun and I think a spot of Natalie Imbruglia's Torn. Mostly good tunes but probably not the best thought-out set ever! But its all about the exposure hey?! Clearly very impressed with our musical ability, a whole bunch of locals escourted us to ?Cat Club? for our first sampling of Chinese-cross-English hard house/trance, which was actually surprisingly good!
3rd November was at the Party's souvenir Terracotta Warrior and Lacquer-ware Factory. The quick tour around here was great, showing us how the original army was crafted and assembled. Hands and heads were fired separately and later assembled on site. Each on of the thousands of units had a unique facial expression and clothing. Some of the units would also have wooden bows or wooden swords which they'd rest-on (and subsequently fall over once the sword rotted!) The same thing happened to the wooden chariots and the situation wasn't helped when one of the warring tribes broke in and set fire to their previous Emporer's tomb in defiance. You can still see some of the fire damage. Nearly a million people 
worked on the massive tomb complex - a slightly frivalous use of resources I feel! Still it did result in an impressive sight.The smaller halls of guards were not so impressive, well some weren't unearthed at all, awaiting new-fangled-technology to protect the paint which had worn off the other warriors since they'd been exposed to the air. We made sure we had the spot where the German student stood, pretending to be a Terracotta Warrior...apparently that in itself is quite an attraction now!
Also buried with the emporer were a number of other artifacts, including some beautiful quarter-scale replica chariots (the other warriors are lifesize or bigger) and amazingly a zinc-plated sword! Yes, in a year still suffixed by "BC" the Chinese had invented 3-micron-thick zinc plating! Pretty impressive. I asked our guide how the
knowledge was lost, as it did seem a bit of a silly thing to forget. It sounded like it was mainly due to the Chinese fretting that people would steal their knowledge...hence it knowledge was available to only a few select people who the died...oops!A brief stop at another museum on the way back revealed that because I touched the claw of the Tiger first I shall apparently be wealthy and powerful, whilst touched the forehead so apparently warm fuzzy feelings will be a-plenty for him. You know how I know you're gay...
That evening we got playing one of the many Chinese dice drinking-games with a couple of English guys from the hostel and their mate the bar-owner! One thing led to another, as it always does when people get an idea in their head...the owner made us get up on stage and play our very first gig. It turned out to be a bit of a rendition of...well...anything we could remember whilst half-cut, so old-school oasis, a bit of Radiohead's Creep, House of the Rising Sun and I think a spot of Natalie Imbruglia's Torn. Mostly good tunes but probably not the best thought-out set ever! But its all about the exposure hey?! Clearly very impressed with our musical ability, a whole bunch of locals escourted us to ?Cat Club? for our first sampling of Chinese-cross-English hard house/trance, which was actually surprisingly good!
posted by Ian Matthias at
12/08/2006 07:36:00 am
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