The "Furnace of China"

Xi'an is known for being the oldest capital in China, for the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum, and for its temperature.  Let's pretend you're in Florida and you happen to want ice cream because it's rather warm outside.  Well, what happens?  You go to the store, pay for ice cream, and then eat it.  That doesn't happen here.  You can still go to the store and pay for it... but instead of eating it, you're more likely to be licking it off the ground before you even get your cash back from the cashier.  Or, if you're like me and you realize the nastiness of eating things off the same ground that people hack up loogies on daily (which is the most disgusting noise when you're trying to eat) and you get your ice cream in a cup, you're more likely to be drinking your ice cream and slurping up every bit of it because it's at least still a little cool.  Ice cream is a big deal here.  Baskin-Robbins knew that.  They're very popular here.
But besides the heat, it's rather pleasant here!  The people still drive like maniacs, but at least it's more controlled than that of Shanghai, Beijing, and especially Chongqing.  And everyone's nicer.  It feels more like home here.  I would actually consider living here.
The first thing we did when we arrived was look around.  We are lucky enough to have a hotel that's right in the center of the city and next to all the major shopping areas.  Not just any shopping area - Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Emporio Armani are all right next door.  The shopping mall down the street has the largest McDonald's I've ever seen and Subway is in the same district as Nike and Adidas.  And the mall... well can you just say AWESOME?  The only bad part: everything is for size Chinese.  Tall people, such as average-sized Americans, can wear an extra large if you can find it.
Yesterday we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.  It was really amazing!  The history behind everything is a little unreal and not at all what I was expecting: There was a king who found a beautiful woman and made her his concubine.  Well, apparently she was already pregnant with a businessman's son before arriving at his place, had the kid, and the kid lived at the palace.  Well, the king didn't have any kids of his own so when the king died when the boy was around the age of 13, he was next in line for the throne because they didn't really have anyone else.  The boy was allowed to rule upon reaching the age of 22 and immediately conquered the 6 surrounding territories, made a common currency, and united the entirety of China by calling himself Emperor.
Well, this Emperor only ruled for 14 years (until his sudden death during a tour of his country) and in that time he not only united China, but also built the Great Wall!  His tomb was held secret and took over 40 years to complete even after his death, but he was placed inside with over 8,000 known figures made of terra cotta clay (each modeled after an individual person!) with thousands of bronze weapons to act as his personal army in the after-life.  Some short time later, the tomb was raided by farmers who took the weapons and broke the warriors and burned down the building, not to be seen again for another 2,000 years...  Until a farmer was digging a well and happened to pull out a random clay head!
The roof of his personal tomb was inlaid with pearls to represent the heavens and the floor with bricks in a map of the Chinese kingdom.  Also, there's a river of mercury that flows somewhere down the middle of it with treasures all around that everyone in their right mind is too scared to take due to the still active and very poisonous mercury that's EVERYWHERE.

But in the meantime, we toured the 3 known pits of the warriors and the restoration factory of where they take the broken pieces to be fixed or molded into a new shape to resemble the one that was broken.  They know there's more pits out there... we just haven't found them yet and already this is the largest tomb in the world!  It's twice as large as the great pyramid of Egypt and when President Bill Clinton visited the tomb, he claimed it to be the 8th Wonder of the World.  He also visited the farmer who found it and asked for his autograph.  The farmer didn't know how to write, so he left him his thumbprint.  The farmer is now literate and signs his name every day for those who visit and pay for him to sign his book inside the Terra Cotta Museum.  President Clinton also said, "If you go to China and you don't see the Terra Cotta Soldiers, then you can not claim you have been to China.  It's like going to Egypt and not seeing the pyramids.  You can not claim to have truly been to Egypt."
The faces on these men are outrageously detailed, too.  They used to be very vibrantly colored, but as they bring up the pieces out of the dirt and into the air, the color fades within 2 days.  The Chinese are not taking anymore out of the tomb until they have the technology to preserve the color.  There is only one that has retained its color.  It's also the only one that still remains in 1 piece!  It's the kneeling archer and the most precious piece they own.
The history in this country is simply outstanding...  At least now I can truly claim to have been to China!