Xi'an

The drummers begin their performance with a flourish. Five of them, three men and two women in Tang Dynasty costumes (circa 500-900 AD), begin beating red drums of various sizes and shapes in a very nicely chereographed and arranged percussion piece. We are in the Drum Tower in central downtown Xi'an at 9am sharp. There are two restored ancient Tang Towers: big pagoda-shaped square buildings dating from about 1500 years ago, from which, at dawn and dusk, bells and chimes and then drums were played, repectively. I presume that the musical performances were intended to herald the opening and closing of the city gates (which still stand in restored condition) and the beginning and end of the working day.

The performance at the Bell Tower, a similar square pagoda yesterday, was also very spirited with a costumed male and female performer playing the bells and chimes, three other costumed women playing stringed musical instruments, and one costumed woman doing a dance using two big pink fans as props. Delightful!

I imagine that 1500 year ago, the sounds of the perfornaces could be heard wafting out of the towers to all corners of the walled inner city (14 square km.) Just for the record, during the Tang Golden Age, there was a second wall that enclosed 76 ares. However, in May of 2011, beause of the bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic outside flowing around the roundabouts outside the two towers, the musical notes barely make it out the door before being drowned out by the noise...

On top of the traffic noise, there is the noise of cellphones ringing among today's audience at the Drum Tower. The guy next to Siobhan has the temerity to answer his and engage in a loud debate with someone at the other end. During a crscendo in the drumming, he jumps up and runs out of the room, thank goodness! Then, there are the the people who tromp in noisily during the performance. Too bad, it spoils a perfect moment...

Until we toured the Shanxi Provincial Museum several days ago, on Uncle Bernie's recommendation, we did not grasp the significance of this city to Chinese history. Xi'an, also called Chang'an in the past, was the seat of the Chinese Empire during 14 dynasties. It was the capital of the first Qin emperor, whose wars defeated his enemies and formed the first united Chinese nation state in 221 BC. He was the megolomaniac who not only ordered the construction of the Great Wall but also decreed that a tomb city for himself be built nearby with some 6000 Terra Cotta warriors to fight for him in the afterlife. It is the largest tomb in the world and took 720,000 workers 40 years to complete. Then, immediately after he died, peasant revolts erupted against decades of dictatorial rule and chaos ensued for four years during which time the tomb was raided, flooded, and burned and most of the terra cotta warriors were smashed.

Such egotism! Imagine what magnificent and useful alternate public works so many people could have created over four decades: canals, irrigation projects, highways, new cities...

The Royal Ontario Museum's exhibit was really well done last year in Toronto in that it set the Terra Cotta warrior statues in their proper historical context. But it sure is impressive, at the Terra Cotta Army Museum about one hour east of the city, to walk around the four buildings enclosing the three pits containing the warriors and a fourth building containing two reconstructed chariots, as well as a fifth building featuring a 360-degree, wrap-around theatre. Every single warrior has been personalized to possess an individual face and even a different tread pattern on his shoes.

The Shanxi Provincial Museum in downtown Xi'an also has a nice exhibit with blinking coloured lights showing all the trade routes leading all the way from Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Levant, and India to the city of Xi'an which were collectively called the Silk Road. In those days, China jealously guarded its monopoly on the manufacture of silk.

I am writing this blog entry after leaving Xi'an with Siobhan on the night train. The train left the statiion on time precisely at 21:34 as Siobhan and I settle in on the top two bunks in our second clss sleeper with some books to read. The light is good up here at the top even though, if you're taller than an average Chinese child, it's impossible to sit up straight. But poof! Exactly at 10 p.m., the lights go out and all the people in the car below, who were carrying on as it if it were Chinese New Year, suddenly hush up in unison and go quietly to sleep. So we do too.

Similarly, at 7 am, the music goes on and everybody jumps out of bed and races for the washrooms. I do have to admit that the ride has been nice and smooth on every train ride we have taken here, except that, in the middle of every tunnel, there are always one or two big bumps. The only disagreeable parts of the train experience here are trying to buy tickets and trying to get on the train (It's such a crush of humanity!), poorly designed platforms where you may have to carry your luggage up and then down two long flights of steps, and of course, the snorers.

Besides the Shanxi Provincial Museum and the Terra Cotta Army Museum, we also went to the Folk Park near the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, south of the city walls, which is a seven or eight story tower. They wouldn't honour Siobhan's international student card or my senior status so we didn't bother to pay to go in. However, we did take in the Folk Park's huge musical water fountain which must be over 200 metres long and about 40 or 50 metres wide. Thousands of Chinese were packed around the edges as the several hundred fountains pulsated, arched, spiralled, shot up high into the air, and then receded in a aquaeous interpretation of a number of Chinese and western musical pieces. Some young people wandered in among the jets of the water to take photos (and get soaked) or to be photographed, sopping wet. The Folk Park, was also filled with fake trees with fake leves that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be lights in the shape of flowers and leaves. Each tree has a sign indicating "Danger: electric shock".

In addition, there were lots of vendor stalls and lots of public art in the park. There were lots of playful, bronze, full-size statues, the characters for which (poets, scholars, soldiers, children) were taken from the Tang Dynsty golden age. There were also long, long murals on wooden hoardings depicting this very site during Tang times as a water park. But it was a different form of water park then. Back then, it was a place where the aristocracy got to cavort about in boats, dressed to the nines and be entertained with music. Times have certainly changed for the better!

Just for the record, we stayed in the Shuyuan Youth Hostel, which has the distinction of being rated #9 among all the youth hostels of the world. It is a farly classy place just inside the city wall, in an upscale district right next to the south gate of the city. It has a fully-equpped bar which attracts a lot of Chinese young people, a nice common area, two open courtyards which get very wet when it rains, and a restaurant.

We are getting off the train in one hour at Shijiazhuang, a smll city by Chinese standards on the rail line to Beijing. Here there is a mausoleum dedicated to the Martyrs of the Revolution, which contains the final resting place of Dr. Norman Bethune. We will pay our respects and then continue on the fast train to Beijing.