Saturday was one of our marathon Saturdays with a ton of activities. It was actually a great day full of nice weather, tombs, and the cheesiest dinner theatre you could imagine.
With our ambitious agenda, we had to rise early to make a 7 am breakfast. During the week, our breakfast is at 7.30 and at 8.30 on the weekends. We had to be to our classroom by 8 to hear our new lead historian, Dr. Zhou Xiuqin (pronounced like Joe Shoe-Chin, with Xiuqin being her first name) talk to us about the beginnings of the Tang Dynasty. (By the way, Tang rhymes with gong, just so we have that clear.) We learned of the scandal and intrigue of the beginnings of the most prosperous dynasty in Chinese history. At 9.20 we were done and hustled back to our rooms to pack up for the day and to get ready to leave at 10. I filled my back pack with water, snack crackers, lemon wafers, Kleenex, hand sanitizer (thanks Mom!), postcards, etc. I made one last stop at the convenience store across the lane to buy some ice cream (30 cents), and then got on the bus. 
We spent about an hour and a half on the expressways heading west of Xi’an. By the way, the highways here are far better than anything that Michigan has. China has been pumping tons of money into its infrastructure to cope with an expanding economy. Then the last half hour was spent on winding roads going up into the mountains. They looked like the types of roads where you’d see the “chicken bus,” you know the one full of locals, their chickens, possibly goats and has a top full of luggage, baskets and things. Unfortunately, we did not see the chicken bus. 
Our first stop was the tomb of the first Tang emperor, Gaozu. This was kind of the gold standard and the mold that all Tang mausoleums would follow afterwards. Instead of building burial mounds as in the past, the Tang used actual mountains. While the tallest mount of the Qin emperors was 60 meters, Gaozu’s was over 1000 meters! Of course, geology gave him a head start. There really is nothing original at Gaozu’s mausoleum, but the Chinese are rebuilding it to give people an idea of what it would have looked like had it been untouched. We had 45 minutes there to soak it in the ambience. Some raced to the top of the mountain; I chose to remain a little lower and enjoy the cool breezes sweeping over the mountain. 
Next we drove to the tomb/mausoleum (or ling in Chinese) of the third Tang emperor, Gaozong and his wife, the Empress Wu. The Empress was the only woman to ever rule China in her own right. There have been several who acted as regent for their young sons upon the death of their husbands, but Empress Wu ruled for a good chunk of her husband’s reign and then continued to rule in her own right after his death. Their tomb is interesting in the fact that the Spirit Road leading to the tomb still has the original sculpture lining it. Plus, most historians think that the tombs themselves have been untouched. As with many imperial tombs, though, the Chinese are not opening them 
because they simply don’t have enough trained people to process what would be found and to safely manage the treasures. So we walked the Spirit Road and part way up the mountain before we turned back. Annette then led us through a small farming village that is directly below the Spirit Road, built into the Loess soil. Most of the farmers have moved on since Annette has last visited the village about 20 years ago. We heard two conflicting reports. One was that the farmers moved away to get better housing. The other report was that the government moved them. Either way, it was still interesting to peer into their world. 
Next we were off to the tomb of one of the Tang princesses whom the emperor had executed at the age of 17. (I teach teenage girls; I can see where he was coming from…) This tomb had been totally excavated and we were able to descend to the
dark depths below the mountain. It was very cool looking at the paintings and burial figurines lining the way. (All were reproductions though, as the originals were removed to museums for safe keeping.) At the bottom was her large stone coffin. I’m not sure if it was original or reproduction, though.Then we hopped back into the bus to head back to town for a 7 pm dinner reservation at the Tang Dinner Theatre back in Xi’an. The ride was nice. I was able to write postcards, listen to music, nap a
bit and enjoy the scenes of the countryside. We arrived to the theatre at 7 pm on the dot. Now, let me preface this by saying I had no desire to go to this thing from the get-go. One of the members had proposed going to this show and dinner at the very beginning as he had found info on it at the tourist bureau. The cost was 800 Yuan! First of all, that’s way too much money; secondly, I hate tourist shows, because they are aimed at tourists so there’s nothing really authentic about them; thirdly, the food is typically bland, tasteless versions of the real thing to appeal to the tourist palate. Well, last week, at a curriculum meeting I missed because I wasn’t feeling well, our leader, Kevin, said that if we all agreed to go, that the China Institute would pick up the tab as it was a cultural excursion. So a vote was taken and it was agreed we’d all go. I’m sure they got a much better deal than the 800 Yuan price. Well, I was right on all counts. I think the only Chinese there were the servers; everyone else was Western, mostly German. The food was bland. I had to dunk everything into plum sauce to give it some flavour. The show, well, I was told that there was no cheese in China, but I saw plenty of it last night. I think the highlight was during the military dance when the big monster’s eyes started flashing red. I thought I was in the red light district all of a sudden. (Plus, the monster was smiling. Monsters don’t smile.) Even though we were treating it as a comedy show and were laughing accordingly, we couldn’t wait to get out of there. We didn’t make it home until nearly 10.30, so that was a 15 ½ hour day. Yeah, it was long. Would I change anything about it? Nah…
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