After the previous day’s drive from Taiyuan to Xi’an, our group had earned another day of sightseeing; once again, we would squeeze three visits into a very full day.  The first was a very worthwhile stop at the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi’an.  Despite its ancient Tang dynasty architecture, the museum was completed and opened just fifteen years ago.  This is a wing off the main entrance.

Shaanxi Province is a cradle of civilization; village sites dating back six thousand years have been found here, and major archaeological discoveries occur often these days.  The Xi’an area has served as China’s capital many times over the past 32 centuries, for a total of over a thousand years - nearly twice as long as Beijing.  So it was no surprise to discover this museum to be one of the best in China.  Detail of a bronze vessel from the Zhou dynasty some 28 centuries ago.

Bells, nearly three thousand years old, with dragon decorations.  An inscription on the bells says their maker, Zha, presented them as a gift to a Master Zhong in appreciation for receiving an award and a job.

Pitcher topped with a bird’s head, from the Warring States period around 24 centuries ago, encircled with intertwined hydras.  The Shaanxi History Museum is home to over 400,000 relics, and given the steady stream of discoveries in the area, I imagine that number is growing rapidly.

A figurine from the Tang dynasty, around twelve hundred years ago, showing an ideal of female beauty quite different from today.

A ding vessel, from the Ming dynasty over four hundred years ago, made to look like a monster - it’s staring at you with blue eyes.  Fifty years ago, most everything shown here was still underground waiting to be discovered.

Shadow puppets available for purchase in the museum gift shop.  Xi’an has many must-see sights - towers, pagodas, city walls, even a Muslim section of town acting as a reminder that this was the eastern end of the Silk Road - and this museum is definitely one of them.

On the other hand, this place - Huaqing Pool, some twenty miles east of Xi’an - is definitely not one of them.  A stunningly tasteless statue of a naked emperor’s concubine greets visitors to a pond surrounded by mediocre copies of ancient buildings, pavilions and fountains, and things don’t get much better from there.  The reason people come here...

...is to see this hole in the ground.  This is where a Tang dynasty emperor’s concubine once bathed in water from the local hot springs.  For the privilege of this view, you pay more than you would to see most any famous attraction in Beijing.  Unfortunately, Huaqing Pool seems to be folded into many of the area tours; considering that this tourist trap was our third and final stop of the day, we certainly could have left it out in favor of sights within Xi’an itself.  At least our second stop of the day, on the following page, made up for this.