Well the Terracotta Army was far better than expected, with terrific level of detail on the soldiers. A lot of travellers talk it down, but for me this was a real high point. It's amazing, that some nut-job emporer persuaded people to build 8000 6ft-plus toy soldiers then bury them underground so they would help him rule from behind the grave (he wasn't that nice to them living by all accounts). Qin was quite the boy. He built (not personally obviously) the first Great Wall and, while I can't confirm this and it's a bit of a guess, I think the country is named after him as Qi sounds Chi when spoken by Chinese. He also unified the country if you're interested, which you're probably not, but then why are you still reading? You must be used to this drivel.
The other main attraction about Xi'an, China's former capital and third city, is the Muslim quarter, a great little maze of market stalls and real atmosphere.
This may be my last post from China, so I guess I should make some kind of judgement. One thing that has struck me is how - when travelling by train from city to city - you pass what in the UK would be a hamlet, a small community in the wilderness, but here it is a clutch of high rise flats, a pointer maybe to the massive population.
And I was walking down a Xi'an street today when a few traders started to panic and tried to flee. Suddenly this guy - who looked more of an Army general than police - strode across and started kicking their tables and stock about. If they were doing something illegal, no-one got arrested. It looked like weight being thrown around. I don't know if China already is or will be the new super-power, but I'm not at all convinced they are ready or will be as good as the US, even with all its faults.
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