3/24/2007
Went to see the tomb of the only Empress of China. It is not excavated, but she has a stone walk way that leads to it called the "Walk to Heaven" it was very grand. There were sacred animals lining the walk, warriors to guard it and statues of foreign diganatieries. The dignataries were a bit interesting because someone took all the heads off the statues. So historically people know they were foriegn, just not who is who. Kind of funny.
We also saw the tomb of the Empresses's granddaugher and we actually got to go inside that one. She had an amazing stone mozaleim that she had been buried in. We walked quite a way under ground through the original passage to her resting sight and got to see the original tablet with her life story on it. She had only been 17 when she died. The story is that it was in child birth, but our guide told us a diffrent tale. She said that the Emperess had ordered her granddaughter beaten to death for saying that she didn't like some things her grandmother did. So for speaking against her grandmother she was killed. The fact remains that she is still part of the royal family and therefore wold still get a grand burial and be forgiven in the after life.
HHMMMM...what to believe....
After visiting the tombs and having some dinner we went off to see a show about the Tang dynasty. It was not far from where we were staying and is a known attraction for the Xian area. It represented instruments of the Tang along with music that was composed in the period also. One musical piece we heard was composed by the Emperor and preformed by his favorite concubine. I was impressed and really liked it.
There were costumes of the time with a bit of modern sparkle and flair thrown in. They were vivid and visually stunning costumes, waterfall sleeve dancers and traditional warrior mask dancers. They were beautiful and would be what I would call "Tang with a twist" They followed traditional form and then added just a bit of modern to make it pleasing.
I loved the whole performance and the presentation. I would love to go to another show about the Tang dynasty.
We also saw the tomb of the Empresses's granddaugher and we actually got to go inside that one. She had an amazing stone mozaleim that she had been buried in. We walked quite a way under ground through the original passage to her resting sight and got to see the original tablet with her life story on it. She had only been 17 when she died. The story is that it was in child birth, but our guide told us a diffrent tale. She said that the Emperess had ordered her granddaughter beaten to death for saying that she didn't like some things her grandmother did. So for speaking against her grandmother she was killed. The fact remains that she is still part of the royal family and therefore wold still get a grand burial and be forgiven in the after life.
HHMMMM...what to believe....
After visiting the tombs and having some dinner we went off to see a show about the Tang dynasty. It was not far from where we were staying and is a known attraction for the Xian area. It represented instruments of the Tang along with music that was composed in the period also. One musical piece we heard was composed by the Emperor and preformed by his favorite concubine. I was impressed and really liked it.
There were costumes of the time with a bit of modern sparkle and flair thrown in. They were vivid and visually stunning costumes, waterfall sleeve dancers and traditional warrior mask dancers. They were beautiful and would be what I would call "Tang with a twist" They followed traditional form and then added just a bit of modern to make it pleasing.
I loved the whole performance and the presentation. I would love to go to another show about the Tang dynasty.