Midterms Week and Xi'an

Finally...midterms week has come and gone. There's not really much to cover on that front other than how I'm feeling about both my midterms. I have TingLi midterm in two weeks. I think that one will be the toughest, seeing as we don't use Pinyin and the tapes are tougher to comprehend...it's quite difficult for me, but hopefully, the more time I spend in China, the better my listening comprehension goes.

Kouyu: I actually had a tough time with this test...but I did fine. The questions were quite tougher than I first imagined, but nonetheless, it was alright. The final mini-speech was tough, especially because I'm not that good with sentence structure and the like. E for effort. The next day, she told us that no one had failed the exam. I'm going to take it as a good thing...at least in the short-term.

Hanyu: I'm actually impressed with how I did on this test. With the sole exception of measure words, which were my worst area, I missed small things in every section...no more than half of a point to one point total. I'm quite proud of myself for it, but I really need to step up my game in order to get a good grade in this class.


So...now that we've gotten out of this part of school life, let's get into the other part that most interests me: tourism!!! I had the opportunity to take a weekend trip to Xi'an this weekend as I write this part, I JUST got off the taxi back to my dorm. Honestly, I think it was well worth the trip, especially because I want to see and do so much while I'm here. Heading to Xi'an was on my list of things to do. I'm kind of happy I went now over the National Holiday because everyone flocks out of Beijing to those types of places during the holiday. I had such an awesome time! I took a soft sleeper as opposed to the hard sleeper in Qingdao..loads better, despite the price being doubled. Nonetheless, upon arriving at the Xi'an Railroad Station, you're greeted by the below....
....the City Wall, which is the only full wall preserved in all of China. Most of the Beijing City Wall was demolished when Lines 1 and 2 of the Subway were built, so only certain gates remain. However, to be able to see this was one of the best things I've ever seen in my life. We'll discuss this a little more later in the post.

After a brief stop at the hotel, I went to the Xi'an Restaurant, a place that serves popular Shaanxi Province fare (a small note here: Shaanxi is not to be confused with Shanxi; they're different characters and there's a third tone in the former, hence the additional "a" in Romanized Pinyin, where as Shanxi is the first tone, the "xi" is identical). I had a couple of things, but I took pictures of two different things, this oil pastry and eggplant which was sweet, sour, and spicy....how's that for a flavor combo?
After said brunch, I went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, colloquially called Dayongta. It's actually quite a nice place, with a lot to see and walk around with. Unfortunately, I wasn't interested in paying RMB to actually climb the tower, so I chose to admire it from the outside. It was really nice. However, I did see this kettle in the front and I kind of felt like I should take a picture with it...imagine if I had toppled it over; probably would have been banned for life from Xi'an.
After Dayongta, my friend and I took a walk down the main avenue in front of Dayongta while I got a mini-history lesson. Xi'an is the start of the Silk Road, and is also the capital of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was one of, if not the, most prosperous dynasties in China at the height of its time. Most of the stuff in Xi'an stems from that particular dynasty, and Xi'an and Shaanxi Province are taking advantage to lure foreign investment into the city. As such, the street we walked on serves as the prime example of this, as it is becoming very commercialized, with places such as the Westin starting to build and Hyatt and Best Western already in the city. As this is outside the old City Wall, I'm not surprised. The Inner City still hasn't changed all that much, but is slowly modernizing as well.

Anyway, we came across the Tang Paradise, which in itself is quite beautiful. I don't really know all that much about it, but it seems to be something newly built to capitalize on the above. Otherwise, it has been renovated and modernized. Anyway, the place was quite beautiful and I could imagine myself being in the Tang Dynasty walking along the wooden walkways. That day was Senior Citizens Day (as was Monday Beijing Time), so there were a lot of older people showcasing things such as Tai Chi and ballet. I took a picture and my friend and I also had a discussion on the differences between the Americans and the Chinese. It seems like the Chinese are much happier than their American counterparts. Perhaps its because Chinese culture dictates that the family cares for the elderly and Americans have to worry about Social Security and the like.

After the Tang Paradise, we went to a calligraphy museum near the City Wall. It was nice to see some of the older stuff that was there, especially because so many things are preserved and were carved in stone. There were a lot of stuff from Confucius, mainly his teachings and several edits to his books. Although I couldn't understand anything, my friend was kind enough to explain a lot of the stuff that was on there. Although I couldn't understand, I was just glad to be able to have that opportunity.

After the calligraphy museum, we climbed the City Wall and took a bike ride around. We completed it in over an hour. The view was BEAUTIFUL, and it offers such a distinct contrast between the two areas. There's the city inside the city wall, which retains a lot of traditional architecture and areas. Outside the city wall, it is slowly becoming a modern city similar to Beijing. I seriously hope that Xi'an manages to retain more of it's traditional flavor, as that's what draws people/tourism here. After completing the bike ride, the night fell on Xi'an, and the gates were lit up so beautifully. I loved it.
After the city wall, it was time for dinner. We headed to the Islamic Quarter of Xi'an. As Xi'an was the start of the Silk Road, it received a lot of people from Arabia and this portion of the city has a high concentration of Muslims. There is also the Great Mosque there, which I believe is one of the few mosques in China. The influence can even be seen in the people, with the hats and women wearing head coverings. I was quite taken with it and I liked the flavor of the area. I'm slowly starting to realize that China is actually somewhat tolerant of the main religions. It's very interesting and somewhat of a paradox for me. In the Islamic Quarter, there is another famous restaurant in Xi'an which serves a particular kind of bao, which is a form of dumpling. This bao is called san xian tang bao, in which the stuffing consists of chicken and shrimp. It was delicious. I also had the below, which I believe is a form of "eight treasure" porridge. It was quite good, with a sweet and somewhat sour taste to it, which my friend told me comes from the fermentation process.
After dinner, we came across a sort of shopping district within the Islamic Quarter which reminded me greatly of Silk Street, although the prices were much cheaper than said area. For eight items between my friend and I, we spent 400 yuan. It was an awesome deal, since the traditional Chinese "Mao" jacket I wanted was initially offered to me for half of what we paid for all of the items.
However, the most interesting and perhaps one of the most memorable experiences was when I met a gentleman making traditional Chinese seals. I decided to purchase one, and we started talking about where I'm from and how my Hanyu was pretty good. He also explained the meaning of my name in greater detail. His last name,铁, means iron in Chinese and my friend told me it's a fairly uncommon last name. So, the characters of my Chinese name are 杜文康. The first character, 杜, is the closest Chinese equivalent to my last name, Duran. Character number 2, 文, has a meaning of literature and writing. Finally, the third character, 康, means health. 铁 先生 explained to me that the second and third characters have two possible meanings (of course, my friend translated for me, since I understood very little): the first is that I have a healthy sense of literature, and is the definition that I'm aware of. The second was that the person is rich, perhaps in experiences, perhaps in knowledge, but it had nothing to do with money. I liked the latter definition, since it struck me as the most interesting and is probably why I'm here: to seek to be richer and share it with others. He was a very candid and interesting gentleman, and I didn't feel stupid when I was around him at all, even though my Hanyu was horrible. I took a picture with him since the seal he made was awesome. After this, it was back to the hotel room and bed. =)The next day, we headed to the Xi'an Railway Station to take a shuttle that would lead us to the Terracotta Army, which was about an hour to an hour and a half outside the Inner City. Before that, we stopped at one of the Tang Dynasty's old bathhouse areas. According to the museum I visited here, the current area of the location is only one-tenth the size it was during the Tang Dynasty, and it went up the mountain that was there. The water here was very, very clear, since the hot springs in the mountain ran to them. It was a nice sight, but I was also very stoked to see the Terracotta Army. So, after walking around the gardens, we took another bus to the final destination, 兵马俑. This is the site of the Terracotta Army, and it was built for the first Qin emperor, Qin Shihuangdi. He pretty much built this for approximately three decades until his death. However, after his death, several looters came in and broke and burned the figurines, and those also remain here to this day. The site is divided into four main areas: Pits 1-3 and the Exhibition Hall. I took a picture at the Exhibition Hall first, as it's a UNESCO site and I figured that I might as well have a picture to prove it.
Inside the exhibition hall were several introductions to the Terracotta Army, how they were built and several replicas of what was meant to be there. There were also several of the real Terracotta statues there on display for people to get a glimpse of them before they headed to the main pits. After this, I took a look at Pit 1, which is probably the most famous, best excavated,and best preserved pit in the area.From what I remember, if Pit 1 were completely excavated, they would find about 6,000 terracotta figurines. Unfortunately, the Chinese (and most archaeologists, for that matter) haven't found a very effective way of preserving the figurines, since as terracotta is pretty much earth, it starts to decay once it's exposed to the air. It would be awesome for them to find a way to save them all, as this is probably one of the most important cultural treasures to China. So many people come here to see it. In the front, upon entering the pit, you see the above picture. As you go to the back, you see the below, which is where archaeologists try to rebuild those statues that were broken and that they have managed to find all of the pieces.
Pits 2 and 3 weren't exactly interesting, and while Pit 2 was quite large, it didn't really have any statues to see there. I believe that archaeologists have stopped excavating due to the preservation problem I mentioned earlier.
After the Terracotta Army, we walked outside onto this sort of shopping street right outside the gate. It's interesting to see how many places have emphasized and developed commercialization. What were once probably roads leading directly to destinations now have shopping streets in front of them selling trinkets and things of the sort so that tourists can purchase them. Once we found a bus, we headed back to Xi'an and to the final two spots we would go to on our trip: the Bell.... and Drum Towers. They aren't really that far from the Islamic Quarter, nor are they far from each other. However, I wasn't really interested in paying 50 yuan to enter both of them. As a side note, your Chinese Student ID is your best friend. I paid half price at all the historical places I went to. It's a big savings and it adds up. We decided to admire them from the outside before grabbing a quick dinner and heading to the train station.

Overall, this experience was probably one of the most interesting ones I've ever had during my time here. It was great to see the history this place holds, while also have a chance to see the modernization that is happening just like in the rest of China's major cities. Hopefully, it will continue to maintain the culture and history of such a period while moving forward into China's new era.