Xi'an

So we visited the hometown of our guide, Xi'an. It's a small town of 8 million in the middle of China that was home to over 13 Chinese ruling dynasties somewhere between the Warring States Period and the Mings. Just outside it are the Terra-cotta warriors from Emperor Qin, who had buried alongside him 6,000 clay soldiers to protect him in the afterlife. In order to keep it a secret, he had each and every laborer that was working on his grave slain.

I'm not in Xi'an anymore, but if I could be quite honest, it was a challenge; not backpacker-stuff-wise, but just adapting to the people. You know how I wrote about how pushy and shovey the people in Beijing were, well, that was nothing compared to Xi'an. I realized that I was getting frustrated even with the people I was chatting with, or asking to help me, and thought for a moment 'ok, I'm a visitor, who am I to get frustrated with the way they do things?'

So instead, I decided to take some time and observe them and this is what I saw. I saw families, very few people walk alone, but rather in groups, of what seem to be large families. The pushing and the shoving are attempts to stay together as a unit. People don't regard the person's foot they stepped on because they are trying so hard to get the great grandmother from behind the park bench and street sweeper.

All of this commotion is set against a backdrop of a huge military presence and some of the most modern structures I've ever seen in my life. I was thinking about it, and perhaps from a more rural population, in a less developed part of the world I would expect such behaviors, but not in what appears to be the contemporary height of progress and development. And then I begin to think further. What part have these people I see swarming on the streets had to do with this development? Is this their rapid progress? or their decision to be "protected" by so many uniformed soldiers? How organic has this supposed rise of China been, coming from a population lifting themselves out of a so-called lack of development?

Perhaps not very. Perhaps these people, on their national holiday in this megalopolis of Chinese dynamism are just as desperate and confused as I am, just trying to see and experience as much of these wonders that are just as foreign to them as they are to me. While travelling, I've found that for many apparent, societal anomalies, there is often a rational explanation. Perhaps this isn't correct, but it's working for me at the moment, and in the meantime, guy with the cigarette hanging out of your mouth, who's about to step on my shoes and possibly spit on my backpack, I'm not gonna freak out.

As far as Xi'an goes, it's a cool city to visit if you want to see urban China without the cover-ups, gloss-overs, and volunteers asking you where you'd like go. We ate dinner in the Muslim corner and it was the biggest mess I've ever made in my life. At one point I thought it was customary to take the noodles, like one does with the chicken heart and liver, and eat them off the table in front of me. But no, the noodles were to be shared in one large bowl. This kind of dinning we have got to introduce into the West, so much more fun.