Xi'An: Part Two: History Everywhere

China’s history is complicated.  It stretches back millennia and covers a land mass that was traded between dynasties and empires like goods in Xi’An’s Muslim Night Market.

History is everywhere, but I question its validity for many reasons.

For one, I can't fathom that such resilient, beautiful structures existed centuries ago.  American history is so young by comparison.  The oldest structures in the U.S. date back to the 16th and 17th Centuries.  In China (particularly Xi’An), there are some buildings that survived outdoors since the 6th Century!  It's hard for me to grasp, despite my awareness of China's preservation efforts.

Additionally, the Cultural Revolution destroyed a lot of China’s ancient history.  The government restores or replaces many landmarks to their pre-1960s conditions.  It’s not uncommon, however, to see an "old building" made of plaster, fake stonework, and other modern materials.

Despite a landmark’s true age, the air of history can’t be erased, and Xi’An’s air is thick with it.  People pass their whole lives under this history and pay little attention to the ancient structures and clues around them.

For tourists like my friends and me, Xi’an was a trip into the region’s ancient histories and cultures, many of which still thrive today in new and different ways.

View Xi'an, Shaanxi in a larger map

Walls

After the Terra Cotta Warriors, we boarded a bus to Xi’An.  Katie, Samah, and I slept the hour-long trip into the city, catching up on the less than four hours we had the night prior.

We awoke under the ancient walls surrounding downtown.  Zsa Zsa, our tour guide from the Terra Cotta Warriors, said the walls were built as fortifications during the Tang Dynasty (900 AD).  The walls are about forty feet tall, fifty feet thick, and surround the city in a square spanning 8.5 miles.

Xi'An Walls (photo courtesy of Marc)

Our guide said Xi’An was THE capitol of China from the Zhou to Tang Dynasties, covering over two thousand years (1100 BCE to 910 AD)!   She said Xi'An was the center of China, or as I like to call it the Zhong (Center) of Zhong Guo (Central Kingdom aka China).

We stayed at the Han Tang Inn Hostel.  It was a well-traveled and quaint hostel located down a residential alley within the city walls.  For a hostel, the accommodations were very comfortable!  They had a bar and restaurant inside that served western fare.

While we were checking in, we met Marc and Peter.

Marc is Canadian and hails from the same city as Samah, Montreal.  He travelled around China before his study abroad program began in Ningbo.

Peter also stayed at the Han Tang Inn.  He is from Adelaide, Australia.  Like Marc, he travelled in conjunction with his study abroad program, except that his time in China was ending.

No one in our three parties had met prior to the Han Tang Inn, but our group of three became five.

Left to Right:  Peter, Marc, Katie, and Samah (w/ her eyes closed).

Two Towers

After check-in, we walked to the center of Xi’An, where two ceremonial towers dominate the landscape.

The towers are the Bell Tower and Drum Tower.  They were built during the Ming Dynasty (late 14th Century) and retain a lot of detail and color.

The Bell Tower (photo courtesy of Marc)

By the time we got to the Bell Tower, the landmarks were about to close.  We argued for five minutes if we had time to see the tower, then bought our tickets inside.

We ran the stairs and hallways trying to take in the architecture and surrounding city.  It was disorienting.  We ran circles around each level, taking pictures as we climbed and jogged.

The sun was setting.  The view was spectacular.  Across the square, we saw the Drum Tower.  It too hailed from the Ming Dynasty and shared a lot of decorative motifs with the Bell Tower.  We didn’t have time to go inside the Drum Tower, but we could see the second level of giant drums.

The Drum Tower (photo courtesy of Marc)

The rushed atmosphere added to our fun.  We goofed around and photo bombed each others’ pictures.  The break-neck speed set the pace for the night ahead.

Goofing around on the Bell Tower

The Muslim Night Market

Muslim Night Market alleyways (photo courtesy of Marc)

Near the Drum Towers, we found the Muslim Night Market.

The market is a labyrinth of narrow alleys where vendors sell souvenirs, knock-offs, crafts, food, and other fare.

We haggled and bartered over everything we bought, from miniature Terra Cotta Warriors to 1960s propaganda posters to fake North Face Jackets.

Samah was a pro barterer!  Her precision got us deals thought otherwise impossible for laowais (foreigners).

Here was the average exchange:

Samah:  How much is this scarf?

Vendor:  80 Yuan.

Samah:  Will you give it to me for 20?

Vendor: (Laugh) No.

Samah:  What if I buy four scarves?

Vendor:  70 each.   280 total.

Samah:  Too much.  I can get these for 25 in Shanghai.  (Walks Away)

The vendor chases after Samah, grabs her arm, and pulls her back to the shop.

Vendor:  Ok, ok.  40 each.  160.

Samah:  20 each.  80 total.

Vendor:  (Still holding Samah’s arm)  Ok, 120 total.

Samah:  100 total.

Vendor:  Ok, ok.  100.

By the end, we all got a bartering system down, but Samah always managed to get the best deals.

I'm uncomfortable bartering, because I'm not used to it.  We haggled over a few dollars off an already lower price than we’d pay in the U.S.  Samah said paying the higher price wasn't fair when the Chinese paid half of what they ultimately got from us.

The vendor anticipated and seemed to relish the exchange, which made me feel better.  Every shop we left, the sales people looked triumphant, even though it felt like we got the better deals.

One portion of the Muslim Night Market you never barter, however, is the street food.  Prices are already set low and fair to begin with.

Food stalls at the Muslim Night Market

Street food puts the ‘Muslim’ in Muslim Night Market.  Most stalls are an Arabic/Chinese fusion and menus are a mix both languages.  Samah is Muslim, so she became our impromptu guide.  She could understand the language and identify dishes popular in Arabic cuisine.

Noodles steaming on an outdoor stove

We walked the alleys eating spicy kebabs, warm breads, dumplings, potatoes, potato chips, dried fruits, nuts, and desserts.  Alley after alley smelled of spices, cooked meats, and steamed dumplings mixed with the occasional odors of a nearby trash pile.

The streets felt electric with blinking, scrolling LED signs, shouting for your attention in both Arabic and Mandarin.  If you were blind or the signs not arresting enough, hawkers also yelled to get your attention and money.  It was alive; it was fun; it was China!

After a couple blocks, however, my head stopped spinning and the sensory overload subsided.  I noticed the buildings in which these food stalls were nestled.  We passed block after block of historic buildings unlit and left in unassuming conditions.

In America, those same buildings would be lit up and preserved in a manner where food stalls couldn’t get within a half-mile of them.  In Xi’An, the history is so common or not old enough to receive their extra attention.  Ancient history was a backdrop to the lives around us, when it could’ve been the focus.

Pagoda-style building towering over the market unnoticed

The Great Mosque

The next morning we toured the Great Mosque.  We arrived when it opened and were the only ones there.

The mosque was discovered in 770 AD and looked like a Buddhist temple except for the Arabic sayings above the doorways.

The Great Mosque

Samah translated much of the Arabic for us.  Most sayings praised Allah and preached the acceptance and fair treatment of others.

The mosque looked ancient, which upset Samah.  She said that mosques in other parts of the world are better preserved and contain large mosaics.  The Great mosque was unlike any mosque in the Middle East.

Arabic doorway outside the main building

Despite Samah’s displeasure, I found the stone work beautiful.  There were detailed murals of birds, flowers, Arabic prayers, etc. carved into stone and set into the walls.

Stone flower at the Great Mosque

As we left, people arrived for morning prayers.  The women wore veils and the men wore Taqiyah hats.  I tried one on, but even their largest didn’t fit my head.

Marc wearing a Taqiyah

The Walls And Goodbyes (For Now)

After the mosque, we went to the city walls.  We didn’t go onto the fortifications because we had to catch our flight back to Chengdu.

Marc and Peter biked the 8.5 miles around the Xi’An fortification and took pictures with guards dressed in period armor.  They said it was beautiful and a great way to see the city.

Marc on the Xi'An wall (photo courtesy of Marc)

We said our goodbyes at the entrance and parted ways.  Marc came to Chengdu three days later for the Chinese New Year, and we got to hang out with him, again (but those adventures are saved for later posts).