Kong Anhe in China: The "Amazing Chase"

Last weekend, we went to Xi'an, where we not only saw the famous Terracotta Warriors, but also participated in a school-organized "Amazing Chase" around Xi'an. Our first task was given to us on the overnight train, which was to find the hotel ourselves. After we found the hotel, we got our next clue. We first went to the South Gate of the city wall, where we had to rent 2 bicycles built for 2 (since we had 4 people on our team) and bike the wall to find two of our teachers for the next clue. The next clue led us to the Beilin Museum, where we had to answer some questions about different historical artifacts. On the way we had to buy a xun from a local street vendor, which is a musical instrument that has finger holes and you play by blowing over a hole on the top. We had to play a little song and

answer questions for our next clue which led us to the Muslim minority street. Here we had to scour the many street vendors looking for a Ding Laoshi, who is a famous local painter and teacher. After finding the theme in his works (which was farming and farmers; although his style was dot painting), he gave us our next clue. We then went to old mosque ruins and answered questions for our next clue which led us to a big pagoda on the outskirts of town. We were only allowed to walk to all of our next destinations except for the pagoda, which was a 20 minute bus ride. After answering some questions, we found teachers and had to "ti jianzi," which basically means we had to play the Chinese version of hackeysack with them. Our final clue was to take a taxi to the center of town and find the finish line (see picture) in the square in front of the Bell and Drum tower. Our team came in first place and won 400 RMB (about $60). Yay!

I loved the Muslim minority street because it had a ton of food and trinket vendors. I ate a lot of their famous food, such as prune juice (sold everywhere on the street) and this spicy, vinegary, jello type food. I didn't really like the jello, but I also had some delicious skewers and stews. It never occurred to me that there were Chinese Muslims, but there is a huge Muslim minority. In the US we really only see Muslim people from the present-day Middle East, so it was definitely different to see a Chinese person in typical Muslim dress (see picture).

The next day we went to the Terracotta Warriors (see picture). This was so cool! There is so much history I could share, but it's nothing that you couldn't read about in a book or onl

ine. However, I thought it was interesting that only a relatively small portion had been excavated. I love the fact that every life-size soldier and person (some believe there are clowns, acrobats, etc.) was modeled after a real person. Historians believe 8 face molds were used and then molded to reflect certain features. Some people look happy, some look tough, some have weapons, some don't. They believe the people were made in an assembly line fashion, Ford-style. I think it's fascinating that it wasn't found until the 1970's (when people were digging a well), over 2000 years after it was finished. Historians can also figure out a lot about the culture back then, from religious beliefs to what kind of technology and tools were available at that time. Xi'an actually has a ton of Terracotta Warrior like ruins, buildings, artifacts, etc. underground all over the city, but the government decided to leave them there for now to protect them from oxidization and destruction, according to my teacher. This is why Xi'an doesn't have a subway.

After visiting the Terracotta Warriors we went to Huaqing Hot Springs (see picture), with a history as early as the Zhou dynasty in 711 BC. Among other tenants, this was also the temporary residence of Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party during the world-famous Xian Incidence in 1936 (see Wikipedia for more info). It was really a beautiful place and people still go to the baths to relax.

CHINGLISH ALERT: While the English translation is actually pretty good, I picked this to share because it's not something we would normally put on a sign in English, but I think it reflects Chinese culture in a way. In English, we usually describe a bad sentence as awkward and a good sentence as having a good flow. However, in Chinese, they describe sentences as ugly sounding and pretty sounding. This sign reminded me of this Chinese way of describing sentences because it is probably the prettiest English translated sign I have seen. (At the Big Wild Goose Pagoda - one of the most famous Buddhist pagodas in China)