Mon, 4/16.  China turned the site where the Terra-cotta Army was discovered into a Museum while also being a very active archeological dig.  Big crowd, gardens, guards, tour buses.  I’d expected pushy people since the moment I landed in China, but happily it wasn’t a thing elsewhere.  The pushy people arrived here.  Standing in line meant nothing.  When I (a foreigner) pushed back, I got these amazed looks.  Too bad.

Suffice to say it was awesome, though I’m not sure which was more amazing: The 8,000 statues or that they could have been lost in time for 2,200 years.  After the discovery scholars went back over history and noted rumors and legends written of buried things.  No one took them seriously.  The enabling emperor’s burial site, just a kilometer away, had been assumed all along, but left untouched.  It’s still untouched, awaiting better technology and preparation.  The Terra-cotta Army had been nicely painted, but exposure to dry air flaked off the paint in minutes.  They don’t want that to happen again.

Broken statues are being meticulously put back together.  They’ve got thousands in one piece.  Begs the question why they need to fix them all.  I guess it’s like the drive to finish a jigsaw puzzle.

After lunch (there was a guy making noodles from scratch) we visited a school, which the tour group seeks donations to support.  (Though I’ve donated to the cause for the previous two tours (Mongolia and Morocco), I’m not about to donate to a Chinese institution.  I’ll let our trade surplus take care of it.)  Jacky had us play games with them.  I did not gain any insight into the Chinese education system.  Kids are kids around the world.  Fun I guess, but not useful.

Skipped dinner.  The food is too good.