So on Sunday we flew from Beijing to Xi'an. Whereas Beijing is current capital of China, Xi'an is undoubtedly the historic capital. Many great Emperors resided in this area, and left many cultural treasures in their reign. On our way back from the Airport, we got to visit one of these sights. We visited the surroundings of the 4th Emperor in the Han Dynasty. By now all the dates have started to mix up in my mind, so I had to look it up, but this Dynasty took place between 206 BC and AD 220. From what I have seen, each of these emperors, would usually be in control for about 10-15 years, but their tombs and monuments often took longer to complete.This example was not different. The emperor has been in control for 17 years, until his death, but his tomb took about 27 years to complete. So many resources we used in the process, it pretty much made me wonder if it was worth it all, but of course these people were pretty much considered to be Gods in their time, so who am I to argue :) They did create some overwhelming monuments of their existence, which I am happy to show to you.
This first emperor we visited left behind a huge tomb and a large collection of object he wanted to accompany him to the afterlife. I could go into great detail, but I think I will just show you the pictures instead. If you really want to know more, I'm sure Wikipedia has all the answers :P
Take good care,
Jeff