China 2017: 5 – the face that nearly sank the Tang Dynasty

HUA QING PALACE

AND LADY YANG GUIFEI

Lady Yang Guifei

     We had no particular plan after our visit to the Terracotta Warriors, but it was still early in the afternoon. We were thinking of just returning to Xi'an but our guide suggested stopping off at the Hua Qing Palace on the way back to Xi'an (at no extra charge) so, why not, and we agreed--a worthwhile decision as it turned out. The palace was built using the local geothermal springs for heating and bathing pools. The palace complex serves as background to a story entitled “Song of Everlasting Sorrow” about Lady Yang Guifei the favorite consort of the aging Tang Dynasty (616-907AD) Emperor Xuanzong (685 -762AD). The Huaqing pools are mentioned in the story:

Lady Yang emerging from the pool

On a cold spring day,

he bestowed upon her the honor

of bathing with him at the Huaqing pools.

According to legend,

this is the pool that was used

by Yang Guifei and the Emperor.

The waters of the hot springs were smooth,

and washed over her pale white skin.

The palace maids helped her to leave the pool,

because she was too delicate and lacked strength.

This was when she began to receive

the Emperor's advances.

Hua Qing Palace sculpture of Lady Yang 
dancing for Emperor Xuanzong

       The "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is a renowned story in China and Japan. Lady Yang Guifei (719 -756AD) was a kind of Helen of Troy figure, a voluptuous young beauty and accomplished dancer who captured the heart and soul of an emperor and drove the realm to near chaos with her family's involvement in palace intrigues and strife—a face that nearly sank an empire so to speak.

Hua Qing Palace and Mount Li

          Hua Qing Palace is a beautiful example of traditional Chinese architectural and landscape design built at the foot and on the slopes and summit of Mount Li (about 25km east of Xi'an), blending the natural landscape with its stone walls, wooden buildings, sculpture, ponds, trees, rocks and hot spring pools into a magnificent complex.

Lady Yang's private hot spring pool

pool shared by Lady Yang
and Emperor Xuanzong

      Lady Yang, unfortunately, was only able the enjoy the luxurious spas and surroundings for a few short years. She held considerable influence over the old Xuanzong who adored her to distraction. She was sure enough of her power to quarrel with the Emperor. He banished her at least twice after lapses in respect for his exalted position, pined for her in her absence and then brought her back to the palace. She was also foolish enough to aid and abet her family in palace intrigues.

pond and landscape garden

plum blossoms

     The Lady was caught up in a rebellion (the An Lushan Rebellion) led by her cousin, Yang Guozhong, that failed and they were forced to flee the palace. The emperor's officials took matters into their own hands before the realm was brought to total ruin and demanded that Xuanzong have the Lady Yang executed. He capitulated and had her taken to a Buddhist shrine and strangled. She was 37-years old. 

Emperor Xuanzong

      The rebellion, however, marked the beginning of the decline of the Tang Dynasty. Xuanzong was forced to retire and was said to be disconsolate over the death of Lady Yang and wept bitter tears thereafter. He died six years later in a depressed state at age 76. The Hua Qing Palace remains as a breathtaking testament to the powerful influence of this  femme fatale.

screen painting of Emperor Xuanzong and Lady Yang with courtiers and attendants
by Japanese artist Kano Eitoku

Chiang Kai Shek headquarters at Hua Qing Palace

       During the first phase of the civil war in China the Nationalist Leader Chiang Kai-shek was forced to join with Mao Zedong's Communist forces in a joint effort to beat back the Japanese advance into China. He had his headquarters in Xi'an at this time and stayed at the Hua Qing Palace. You can see the rooms that he and his staff occupied at the time. Chiang, of course, eventually lost the war to the Communist leader, Mao Zedong, and fled to the Island of Taiwan in 1949.

China 2017: 4 - the Terracotta Warriors

Qin Shi Huang
First Emperor of China

     It is possible to get to the site of the Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, on public transportation if you are familiar with the city. Since we only had a short time in Xi'an, not enough to familiarize ourselves with the city's public transportation networks, we decided it would be simpler to ask the hotel to arrange for a car and guide to take us to the site which is about 49 kilometers east of the city.

       After a couple cups of strong coffee to clear the head, we had some breakfast in the hotel restaurant buffet and met our driver and guide at 10 o'clock in the lobby. It took about an hour to drive to the Terracotta site.

the three pits at the archeological site of the Terracotta Army

THE FIRST PIT

our guide and the pit #1 (curved roof)

pit #1

      Even before arriving at the first excavation pit the site has a vast and impressive park and paved plaza bordering the covered pits. The sheer scale and profligacy of space is impressive and obviously meant to be so, as a kind of prelude or overture to what you are about to see. The main site contains three pits which are active ongoing archeological sites. The first pit, covered by a curving roof is the most impressive of the three. I'd estimate it to be as large as a football field if not larger and contains most of the reconstructed terracotta figures at the site.

THE WORKSHOP AREA OF PIT #1

sculptures being restored in the workshop

broken sculptures
still lying in situ

       The terracotta warriors were discovered by accident in 1974 when local farmers were digging a well and broke into a pit. Upon archeological excavation the pit eventually proved to contain some 6000 life-size terracotta figures. In 1976 two more pits were found filled with terracotta warriors. The figures were originally found toppled, broken and scattered and many have been painstakingly reconstructed in a workshop on the site. Many have been restored and can be seen standing in rows within the excavated pit (as above) or lined up at the workshop (below) waiting to be placed in their original positions. Others still lie exposed and broken in their in situ positions before restoration.

restored sculptures awaiting positioning in the pits

THE SECOND PIT

       The second and third pits are newer and mostly only prepared for further excavation with only a few restored figures. 

entrance to pit #2

tableau in pit #2

THE THIRD PIT

entrance to pit #3

partially excavated pit #3

THE MUSEUM

      There is an on site museum where the finest pieces are on display: soldiers, horses, silver harnesses, horse drawn chariots, etc. The faces of the warriors are all unique. They were modeled on real people and show the features of the individuals they depict.

four chariot drawing horses

gold and silver harness

chariot

THE WARRIORS

WORLD HERITAGE SITE

World Heritage logo on the rear wall

     

       Wikipedia has this to say about it:

       The Terracotta Army (Chinese: 兵马俑; literally: "Soldier-and-horse funerary statues") is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.

China 2017: 3 - Xi'an in the snow

     We had only a couple days to spend in Xi'an.

Qin Shi Huangdi

       Xi'an (pronounced shee'ahn) is one of the oldest cities in China. Xi'an became a cultural and political center of China in the 11^th Century B.C. In the 3^rd Century B.C. it was founded as his capital city by the first ruler to call himself an emperor, Qin (Chin) Dynasty Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. During the Ming Dynasty in 1370 A.D., a new wall was constructed and remains intact to this day. The wall is well maintained and very impressive. It measures 11.9 km (7.4 mi) in total length. The modern day Xi'an metropolitan area has a population of more than 13,000,000. And that is that for statistics.

being restored

       Before continuing, I want to sing the praises of the restorative properties of strong coffee when savored slowly while waking up. Thus, relaxed and sipping our morning coffee we decided to explore the old town of Xi'an on our first full day and make arrangements for a car and guide to visit the Terra Cotta Army site the following day.

new and improved "view" from our room window

winter fairyland 

       Finally restored enough to get out of bed and look out at the view, I got a wonderful surprise. I looked out the window and it was snowing, transforming the drab view of the night before into something that looked almost like an idyllic Xmas Card in my imagination at least. It kept on snowing off and on all day and it turned the whole town into a winter fairyland. We heard that it rarely snows in Xi'an so we were lucky to get a snow day. Although it was a bit cold and slushy for walking in the wet snow, we bundled up and, hesitantly at first, set forth to see some of the popular sights within the walled town—the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower and the Muslim Temple.

easily walkable distance from the Aurum Hotel to the Muslim Quarter and back

       We had lunch at a very local, very popular and very noisy restaurant that serves what they rather irrationally call a “hamburger”. It consists of shredded pork in a kind of pita pocket bread. We each had one of those and a drink made of fermented fragrant olive flowers, slightly alcoholic. I ordered a wonton soup but got a sweet egg drop concoction that I wasn't particularly crazy about instead—really, sweet soup! But the “hamburger” and the drink were very good and very reasonably priced.

THE BELL AND DRUM TOWERS

the Bell Tower

the Drum Tower

souk-like shopping arcade

       The Bell Tower and the the Drum Tower are just a short walk from the restaurant; after taking a few pictures we walked around the Drum Tower and entered a shopping street area common in Chinese cities except that this one was in the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an. I was fascinated by this arcade because it reminded of the the souks and bazaars I had seen in the Middle East many years ago. The Muslim Temple was a little tricky to find but after walking through the maze-like shopping arcade we finally stumbled upon the temple. There was a small admission fee and, when we entered, the temple grounds looked beautiful in the newly fallen snow. Since snow is a rarity in Xi'an seeing the temple precinct in the snow was a true photo-op--it was difficult to be restrained.

THE MUSLIM TEMPLE

Arabic script on  stone wall

first glimpse inside the Muslim temple looks very Chinese

red and beige harmonics predominate

white snow emphasizes the dark curly branches beautifully

an elegant complementary touch of green

double roofed gate nicely framed in white snow and dark lattice

delicious lamb kebab

busy, busy, busy

       I bought some lamb kebab from a street vendor on the way back to the hotel that was delicious; saw a traditionally dressed woman busily making souvenirs; bought tickets for admission to the Drum Tower in time for a short concert inside the tower. The very accomplished musicians were dressed in period costumes and played on a variety of traditional instruments. The koto player in particular was a virtuoso and had a hypnotic effect on me.

koto and flute players