A Date with Mr. Yong

Bibi Liew — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:11:58 +0000

I disappeared off the web because I’m seeing someone in Shaanxi last week. Yes, he is Chinese, ever stayed in London for 6 months, he don’t speak English and was actually born in Xi’an – a historical place to the southwest of Beijing. The moment I touched down at Xi’an XianYang Airport, I was very excited and looking forward to meet him and discover a bit about Xi’an.

Xi’an city view from the top of the City Wall.

The city was one of the four Great Ancient capitals of China. It used to be called “Chang’an” and has been the capital of some most important Dynasty in Chinese history. There’s a saying: “Rome in the West, Xi’an in the East!”.

Before I meet Mr. Yong, the first thing that all visitors and I would see is the old wall surrounding the city. You can rent a bicycle and cycle on top of the walls around the entire city. The 3,000 year old wall is entirely intact and it’s one of the few that remained in China.

It takes about an hour cycling on top of the old walls with exciting sceneries including the modern interior city and the sometimes dilapidated outer city with spring blossoms surrounding the walls.

Meeting Mr. Yong and climbing the City Wall are the 2 to-do things that I wanted to complete during my stay in Xi’an. He is the prime example of a great soldier! I admired his unwavering faith and commitment. He never complained, never quivered and never gave up protecting the country.

OK… His full name is Bing Ma Yong.

The terracotta warriors.

They are indeed magnificent!! No pictures or photos can describe the feeling of seeing them personally. I’m pleasantly surprised time and again with the delicate details. It has been said that going to Xi’an and not seeing the Terracotta Warriors is like going to Egypt and missing the Pyramids!

The Terracotta Warriors.

The warriors were arranged in a actual battle formation. These soldiers are part of the vanguard and do not wear any armor at all.

The first warrior in the 3rd row was restored from broken pieces. It is said that it takes an archaeologist 1 year to piece together a single warrior. The warrior in the 2nd row looks rather “well fed”.

The grumpy old balding guy in the photo was the farmer that discovered the terracotta warriors back in 1974. To get his autograph, you need to fork out RMB150 for a book about the terracotta warriors.

It’s best enjoyed with some initial knowledge of the Terracotta Warriors’ history.

Miscellaneous rambling and musing of a Shanghai Expat woman. » Xi’an

A Date with Mr. Yong