Day 10

On Wednesday the 21st the Mazenod Chinese Tour group went and saw the Xian City Wall, small Wild Goose Pagoda, the Hua Qing Hot Springs and finally the Terracotta Warriors. The Xian City Wall gave a great insight to the architecture of the Tang Dynasty. It was a great historical significance and we all enjoyed taking photos and viewing the ancient city from its thick defensive walls. The small Wild Goose Pagoda is a large tower of translated Buddhist scriptures surrounded by calm and soothing gardens. It otherwise consisted of few smaller buildings, one of which has been partially overgrown by vines. Everyone enjoyed exploring this ancient tourist attraction, which is of great importance to Buddhist religion. We then went to the Hua Qing Hot Springs. It’s a series of bathing pools for the emperor, his wife and family and the rest of the officials. The hot springs were consistently warm and made especially to live out the cold winter. The whole location was very beautiful. For the final part of the day, we visited the Terracotta Warriors. It consisted of a collection of pits, which contained 8000 soldiers, designed with different facial expressions. There were also 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses. There was also a museum, which sold which sold Terracotta Warrior miniatures made with actual terracotta. We thought of the Terracotta Warriors as a 2000 year old wonder of the world that cannot be missed.