Terracotta Army

The story of the terracotta warriors are pretty well known, but I was surprised to learn that these ancient relics were discovered less that forty years ago after being buried well over two thousand years. A farmer was digging a well and came upon a terracotta head. Chinese archaeologists began to investigate ultimately finding many thousands of sculptures at the site. That farmer is still alive and spends his days at the museum signing books for tourists (yes, we bought one).

The scale is impressive as was the number of visitors viewing the ruins as archaeologists continue to (literally) put the pieces together. The picture below is of only one "pit"... there are three others, but they are smaller.

Curious burial

There is mystery around the hanging coffins that can be found along the rivers in China. No one seems to know exactly how old they are, and even more perplexing, how they were placed in such precipitous locations hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

Dragon

New towns

As a result of the higher water level caused by the Three Gorges Dam, about one and half million people had to be relocated to higher ground. In many cases this meant families giving up land that had been farmed for many generations. The government provided high-rise apartments, which of course meant giving up farming. This has resulted in many leaving the rural life and instead working in manufacturing.

Being forced to make this change would seem to be greatly resented by the people, but we were told it was accepted for the common good... a central premise of Communism.

More power

The Three Gorges Dam serves several purposes, but the main function is to generate power. Lots of power. It is the world's largest power station in terms of capacity... 22,500 MW to be precise.

It also increases the navigation capacity of the Yangtze above the dam, and controls flooding below the dam.

The project was completed only a few years ago, although there are still some features that are under construction.

Big dam project

When traveling up the twisting Yangtze River you eventually encounter the Three Gorges Dam. This means the water level rises over 500 feet from one side of the dam to the other, requiring a multi-step lock system of five levels. The process requires about four hours to complete.

We entered the first lock at the end of the day so most of the process happened under cover of night.

One da-la

Where ever there are tourists, there are hucksters, ready to take their money. That is just is true in China as anywhere else in the world.

The hawkers all seemed to be saying "one dollar" indicating they will take good old American dollars. It was never obvious what the dollar would buy, and our experience was it that it is best not to ask. If you show the slightest interest they are very difficult to shake.

But I guess they are just trying to make it in life, just like the rest of us.

Life on the river

We spent five days on the Yangtze River during our travels in China. Over those days we did not see one pleasure craft. There were a few other cruise ships but mostly we encountered many dozens of freighters and barges. This is the super highway of southern China.

The barges were burdened with stone and gravel and coal. A few were loaded with bright yellow sulfur. There were cranes and loaders and payload transfers between ships.

The weather was dark overcast and moist, which added the the feeling of this being a peculiar means of travel.