September FUN!!

We have been back a month and are already in the flow of our school routine…  

One of Ayden’s passions… as she puts it… is cooking.  We spend a great deal of time together in the kitchen.

One of our favorite Chinese snacks are dumplings…  we have perfected our own recipe with the help of our Ayi and here Ayi Fang is showing us her way of folding the dumplings so that the entire dumpling is closed off and able to sit upright. 

Each of the kids have their own special way of folding their dumplings…  

One afternoon we decided to explore the streets of Shanghai…  These over loaded bikes never cease to amaze us.  We will often see these driving down the street with people sitting on top or a family of three on the front.  

We visited antique street this weekend…  Garrett really liked this replica of the Terra Cotta warriors. 

Although we haven’t yet visited Xian to see the Terra Cotta Army, its on our bucket list of things to do before we leave China and we hope to visit this year.   It is suppose to be absolutely amazing.  

The Terra Cotta Army

The Terra Cotta Army is a part of a massive burial tomb built for Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. There are over 8,000 life size statues of soldiers buried along with the emperor. 

Tomb for Emperor Qin 

Emperor Qin wanted to live forever. He spent much of his life and resources searching for immortality and the "elixir of life". He also spent a huge amount of resources building for himself the largest single tomb built to a leader in the history of the world. He felt this huge army would protect him and help him to keep his power in the afterlife. He died and was buried in 210 BC, over 2000 years ago. 

The Soldiers 

The soldiers of the Terra Cotta Army are life-size statues. They average around 5 feet 11 inches tall with some soldiers being as tall as 6 foot 7 inches. Despite there being so many statues, no two soldiers are exactly alike. There are soldiers of all ages with different ranks, facial features, and hair styles. Some of the soldiers look calm, while others look angry and ready to fight. 

The soldiers were even designed with different clothing and armor. Men from the cavalry are dressed differently than foot soldiers. Some soldiers don't have armor. Perhaps they were supposed to be scouts or spies. 

A soldier and his horse

As impressive as the soldiers are today, they were likely much more impressive 2,000 years ago. The soldiers were painted to look even more realistic and then covered with a lacquer finish. They also held real weapons such as crossbows, daggers, maces, spears, and swords. 

How did they build so many soldiers? 

To build 8,000 life size statues must have taken a large army of workers. Archeologists estimate that over 700,000 craftsmen worked on the project for several years. The bodies of the soldiers were made in an assembly line fashion. There were moulds for the legs, arms, torsos, and heads. These pieces were then assembled together and custom features such as ears, mustaches, hair, and weapons were added later. 

There are between 8 and 10 different head shapes for the soldiers. The different head shapes represent people from different areas of China as well as different personalities of the soldiers. The heads were made from moulds and then customized and attached to the bodies. 

Other Statues 

The tomb is most famous for its large rows of soldiers, but there were plenty of other statues to accompany Emperor Qin in the afterlife. There were 150 life-size cavalry horses and 130 chariots with 520 horses buried with the army. In other areas of the tomb, figures of government officials and entertainers have been found. 

Archeologists have had to reconstruct the soldiers from thousands of pieces

When was the army discovered? 

The Terra Cotta Army was discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974, over 2,000 years after it was covered over during the burial of Emperor Qin. The army was located about a mile from the tomb of the emperor. 

Interesting Facts about the Terra Cotta Army

The horses in the army are saddled. This shows that the saddle had been invented by the time of the Qin Dynasty.

There are four main pits that house the army. They are around 21 feet deep.

The bronze weapons of the soldiers were found in excellent condition because they were coated with a thin layer of chromium which protected them for thousands of years.

Most of the statues were found broken into many pieces which archeologists have been carefully putting back together for many years.

Terra Cotta is a common type of hard-baked clay. Once the soldiers were shaped with wet clay, they would have been allowed to dry and then baked in a very hot oven called a kiln so the clay would harden.
~~ thanks Wikipedia

Back to Antique Street

It is a place to browse old trinkets and delve into some of the local culture.  

Garrett loved looking at the old door knockers & Samurai swords...  

Jordan is branching out this year and asked us if she could try out for the Dragon football team.  

No surprise she fits right in… and we are enjoying watching her learn yet another new sport.  We will see how things unfold when she actually gets tackled!  

       

We alway seem to find some of those China moments where you aren’t really sure what to make of things…  

We spotted this little BIG fella on the way to the bus stop.   We half expected it to start mechanically moving like at Disney.  Everyone but Garrett wanted to bring it home to keep.  I think he is still having nightmares!

Team effort on the grocery shopping….  Ayden made out the list and our crew set out to purchase.

We still aren’t sure what the Lams were or the Ros met Bus.

      

Enjoying the little moments of our life here….