Good Evening everyone,
I am about a day behind on the blog, but wanted to do my best to keep everyone posted.
Below are some pictures of Xi'an. We had a really good day on Saturday with Victor as our tour guide. He took us to many places. Besides the Terracotta Warriors we visited the City Wall, the Wild Goose Temple, Muslim Alley and the Tong Dynasty Dinner Show.
Xi'an was the first capital of China when Emperor Qin, the first Emperor of China, decided to unite all the various provinces. In order to protect the capital, City Wall was built. With guard towers and only 4 main entrances, the wall was solid. Certain parts have been redone, but this was a great experience to walk part of the City Wall.
I am about a day behind on the blog, but wanted to do my best to keep everyone posted.
Below are some pictures of Xi'an. We had a really good day on Saturday with Victor as our tour guide. He took us to many places. Besides the Terracotta Warriors we visited the City Wall, the Wild Goose Temple, Muslim Alley and the Tong Dynasty Dinner Show.
Xi'an was the first capital of China when Emperor Qin, the first Emperor of China, decided to unite all the various provinces. In order to protect the capital, City Wall was built. With guard towers and only 4 main entrances, the wall was solid. Certain parts have been redone, but this was a great experience to walk part of the City Wall.
Here are some pictures of the Wild Goose Pagoda. It is a temple with many things. One of the interesting rooms was dedicated to Sakyamuni Buddha. His mother dreamed of a white elephant. This symbolized the pregnancy and birth of Sakyamuni. Once born, Sakyamuni took 7 steps. With each step, a lotus flower appeared. After taking his steps, Sakyamuni pointed to the sky and to the earth. Scholars stated that this meant:
“In all of Heaven and Earth, I am the only one worthy of honor.
I will liberate mankind from
Birth, Old age, Sickness, and Death.”
There are many parts to this complex and monks still live there.
How the pagoda got its name was that a certain type of monk, who eats meat, was hungry as they did not have meat to eat. The monks began to pray and at that moment, a flock of geese was flying over them. The geese dropped from the sky and provided meat for the monks. The monks felt guilty and decided from that moment, to be vegetarians. This pagoda was dedicated to those geese.
“In all of Heaven and Earth, I am the only one worthy of honor.
I will liberate mankind from
Birth, Old age, Sickness, and Death.”
There are many parts to this complex and monks still live there.
How the pagoda got its name was that a certain type of monk, who eats meat, was hungry as they did not have meat to eat. The monks began to pray and at that moment, a flock of geese was flying over them. The geese dropped from the sky and provided meat for the monks. The monks felt guilty and decided from that moment, to be vegetarians. This pagoda was dedicated to those geese.
And finally after all of this traveling we had a dumpling dinner and watched a theater production of songs and dance from the Tong Dynasty. Lots of costumes, traditional instruments, and dance depicting the lives and culture of the dynasty.