Xi'an

Go to Xi'an my friend, a land flowing of archaeological majesty, mystery and honey.

Last week Matt and I were informed that we did not have to teach. Monday through Thursday. That is the Chinese education system - last minute planning and even later minute communication. Thankfully our school is pretty good at telling us about the future, but one of our friends shows up everyday having no clue what or when he is going to teach because they want him to do different things everyday. Anyway, what to do with this unexpected liberation? Then the words of Winston Greeley (Horace's nephew) dawned in my mind, "Go West to Xi'an young man, Go West." Matt's parents were arriving from America so he was going to be a tour guide in the Jing, so I recruited my friend Lulu to accompany me on the train chugging southwest.

Xi'an had a really relaxed feel ... then again compared to the Big B. One day one we biked around the city's ancient wall. Xi'an is one of the only cities on this lonely planet that still has its city wall encompassing the city. It was a 10 mile loop and was an awesome ride under a smiling sun.

Later that night we walked around in a park and noticed a wrinkled and wizened man doing calligraphy with a watery sponge on the cement. It was so pacifying to watch him create such gorgeous, meaningful, yet fleeting art. It would evaporate minutes after the experienced and controlled stroke of his sponge.

The next day we woke up early and hopped on a bus to see the Terracotta Warriors. The army of underground clay soldiers is kind of like the Grand Canyon of archaeology, discovered on accident by a farmer digging a well. I actually shook the hand of that farmer at the museum - they hired him to sign books 9.4 hours a day. He had that glazed look in his eyes that a pacing cougar has at the zoo, trapped behind two inches of glass. Anyway, his accidental find was the biggest archaeological surprise since I found that lost Red Bull in the darkest crevice of the fridge. The history behind the warriors is mind-numbing. I don't claim to be a professor of Ancient Oriental History, but here are some facts I found fascinating:

Emperor Qin was China's first emperor. He lived 200 years before Jesus. This man was only emperor for 11 years, but he unified China through his ambitious and tyrannical reign. Here are a few of his feats: the Great Wall (maybe you've heard of it), the Grand Canal, the Terracotta Army guarding his tomb, enslaving millions, and tirelessly obsessed with achieving immortality. That's why we have the warriors, guarding his tomb, protecting him for eternity. Its not unlike the Pharaohs of Egypt with their pyramids and mummification. Humans are scared of the greyness after death. But what a beautiful thing for Christians - we aren't paralyzed with fear, we don't have to enslave 720,000 people to construct our playground for the afterlife, because we know we have a Father who has already prepared a room for us, and we have a Brother who stamped our passport into our eternal playground with His blood.

Archeologists have only uncovered and pieced together 1,000ish of the 6,000ish soldiers that have been living underground for over 2,000 years. Each one is unique. Each face is a different man. It is truly awesome. There were some talented artists among those 720,000 slaves charged with creating the Emperor's deathly dwelling. The warriors are still a work in progress, when we were there archaeologists were working on piecing together pieces into soldiers - kind of like an ancient and mysterious 3D puzzle. I really want to go back in 40 years and see how many more have been unearthed.

It's kind of crazy to think about - one emperor's mania and arrogance in 221 BC was accidentally intruded upon by a farmer's shovel in 1974 was the greatest coincidence for the Chinese tourism industry, because it now allows people in 2011 to inhale an ancient wonder, for a friendly fee.

I know you have emails to answer and phone calls to make and a cup of coffee to make so I shall bid thee farewell.

I need to scoot to school now to teach some kids with the help of Mr. Bean (its actually a cool lesson - write a dialogue for Mr. Bean's sandwich making craziness), but I will upload more pictures of my trip to Micah's Online Albums.

His peace. Your brother,
- m -