Day 6: Gemma Bloemen, YC ’10
Xi’an, Monday, May 21
After enjoying unique home visits with host families, we reunited for group activities on the sixth day of our fantastic snapshot of China. In line with Xi’an’s reputation as one of the most important ancient Chinese cities, the Yale 100 delegation visited a historic museum, a Buddhist temple and the famous Terracotta Warriors. On the bus ride to the History Museum of Shaanxi Province, we shared stories about our host families. All of us believed our own experiences to be the best, and the bus ride seemed to end hours too early.
At the museum we were assigned a tour guide who gave us an hour-long tour through thousands of years of Chinese civilization. From ancient pottery buried with the dead, to models of villages led by women, the museum was an interesting introduction into the ancient Chinese history, a topic all of us could learn more about.
We then stopped at the Big Goose Pagoda, an ancient Buddhist temple that most of the delegates had never seen before. Erol, Marie and I, however, had been fortunate enough to have visited it Sunday evening with our host families. It was a beautiful sight during the day, but a truly astonishing one at night. The square in front of the lighted tower included the second-largest fountain collection in the world (after Las Vegas). Experiencing a magnificent water show on Sunday evening alongside thousands of local Chinese people was one of the trip’s true highlights for me.
After having admired the many Buddhist buildings surrounding the Pagoda, we went to a local restaurant to enjoy a special meal. At a famous dumpling restaurant, we were served fourteen kinds of dumplings, all of which were much tastier than the ones we had tried to make with our host families the day before. At this point most of us had learned to eat with chopsticks reasonably well, and we put these skills to good use, as evidenced by the fact that plates of dumplings would disappear within seconds.
Completely stuffed, we got on the buses and drove to the Terracotta Army, a world-famous tourist attraction all of us had been looking forward to since first looking at the itinerary. The warriors, each with unique features, were built in 210 B.C. to accompany Emperor Qin Shi Huang in his afterlife. Although an estimated 4,000 of the 6,000 warriors remain buried today, it was one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen. What struck me as well was the relatively poor condition in which the warriors were preserved. The tour guide told us that because of a shortage of funds the buildings leaked sometimes, allowing the rain to damage the dug out warriors. This provides a great reason to keep the rest of them buried for the time being, in order to preserve this spectacle for future generations.
When we returned to the hotel, we changed into formal attire for the only non-tourist event of the day. We met with provincial leaders at a local government building for the last one of our official dinner-banquets. We were once more reminded that our group included 85 people who had never been to China and of Confucius’s saying that it is a great joy to receive friends who come from afar.
The organized part of the day was now over and we all went our separate ways. Some went to a local Islamic market and bargained for beautiful souvenirs. I went with a group of students to get a Chinese massage. This provided a relaxing ending to yet another incredible day. In China, it truly is a great joy to be a friend coming from afar.
