I made a big purchase at the Jade Factory. A small ring of jade. The ring represents "endless love". It's tied to a woven silk string. The Chinese dont have wedding rings like "westerners" They give their brides a ring like this or a jade bracelet. Joan, our guide had one of each that she wore all the time.

We were next bussed out of town (Xian) to the site of the Terra Cotta Warriors. They are located in "pits" that are covered by huge buildings in a beautiful park. Mary Ann is standing on the stairs of Pit 3. To her right is Pit 1 (the building with the arched roof) and Pit 2 (the square building above her hat)..

This is what you see when you enter Pit 1: Trenches deep in the ground containing an army of hundreds of Terra Cotta Warriors. They were cast during the reign of Emperor Qin Wang Ziying during the Qin Dynasty around 200BC. He's the emperor who unified China, standardized writing and currency, and restored and rebuilt much of The Great Wall. A busy guy indeed!

Each trench was filled with the warriors holding their weapons and roofed over with logs, thatched mats, and about 10 feet of earth.

In the years following the burial of the army vandals and thieves entered the covered trenches, stole all the weapons and burned the log roofs. Time passed and the weight of the earth collapsed the roofs and crushed the warriors. What you see here are the warriors that have been reassembled from bits and pieces of terra cotta.

Here is another view of Pit 1. You can see the depth of the soil covering the trenches. Some was filled by the original builders and some was from natural accumulations over the past 2 centuries. The farmers found the warriors in a well being dug in the upper right near where the 3 people are standing. You can also get an idea of the size of the army (~7000 found - so far) and number of trenches that were dug.