Let's start at 20:42 in Suzhou a Friday night, but some very hopeful of traveling on a train in modern, luxury, cleanliness and speed equals what had brought us in Beijing, the flagship of the new line of super-fast trains in China. Not so. It's still the old ones. It means noisy, not particularly clean, air conditioning probably does not work (or unbearably hot or cold), but - above all - smoking allowed. Considering how many Chinese - especially men - smoking, air quality is quickly compromised. I say, but no worse than Italian trains 15 years ago. We arrived with 40 minutes late, at 10.30, three or four intermediate stages, and of course the continuous shouting of excited passengers passing through or stopping in the hall, toilets closed for hours (only open to those Turkish). Yet no one complains, no one seems upset, annoyed, barely bothered to have paid a ticket which is not negligible. The general attitude is acceptance, quiet, indicating that everything is normal.
The early morning is an accelerated flow of landscapes to the blade runner. Arid lands, beaches, the green is almost absent, sporadic nuclei of brick houses and shacks in sheet, advertisements pepsi blue hand-painted the only color that contrasts with the yellow-ocher-brown shade. Some chimney smoke, apparently dead fields crossed by some miracle green strip, here and there silhouettes of men bowed with his hands in the soil, moving bodies with hoes on their shoulders, some stray dog. Piles of sand, clay, depressions, holes and caves dug the bare walls, terraces, dirt paths between the ups and downs are lost in anything, brick hovels, old sheets or coils piled up, furrowed hillsides and eaten by man, old factories, abandoned, rusty old trains, old trucks. Coal mines, black smoke against the backdrop of the mountains faded silhouette. Then small mounds of earth, which I understand to be graves, marked by large radial garlands wrapped with plastic bottles, bags and other refuse. And below, under piles of earth under the clay soil, under twigs, dirt expanses that gradually, through the action of wind and torrential rain but perhaps rare, are unearthed. Garbage, of all colors, the only colors in this monochromatic landscape.
Xi'an appears gray, misty. Gave sunny, maybe the sun is there but not seen. The air is dry. Walk along the famous walls (a full square for a total of approximately 13 km), rebuilt really well. Matter of choice: preserve the original, though in ruins, not to distort the course of events, or reconstruct perfectly the work to bring it back to its former glory and show the world what he was able in the past the people united ? China has chosen the second solution anywhere. And these walls that seem to build recently, are now passable to all but those who want to walk or bike rides. More than loaded with historical significance are now full of practical use and serve as a recreational area. Immediately behind the walls scenes of poverty and indegenza. And this is not a matter of choice.
We visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (大 雁塔) in the southern part of the city, outside the city walls, now a symbol of Xi'an. Like, why is yellow ocher-colored stone, not gray like the many other sights around China, it is massive, massive, pyramid-shaped, over seven floors. Behind him, a huge open space with fountains, water features, rows of trees, gardens, where people stroll, gather, eat, talk. For the first time since I was in China I see a group of skaters. We stopped to watch.
the evening stroll in the Muslim Quarter all twisted around the mosque. Narrow streets and crowded on both sides file of shops, mini-restaurants, three-wheeled vehicles used in counters where they are cooked lamb kebabs, fish or vegetables or eggs, pancakes and dipped in sweet sesame sauce colored legs of animals, white bread of different sizes, especially dried or candied fruit. The women wear the veil, the face is uncovered. The facial features lead to distant lands only in appearance. Buddhism and Islam, diversity is seen here at last.
Located geographically in the heart of China, capital of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an is one of the four great ancient capitals of China, and the arrival point to the east of the Silk Road. At 35 kilometers from Xi'an is the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, an architectural complex of large-scale structure that mimics the ancient capital of Xianyang: the Imperial Palace in the center, surrounded by two walls. The burial site, an underground city was built by and for the man who later became the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (221-210 BC), the unifier of the immense territory of China under one centralized power, the same as ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China. His tomb was built in a favorable position in accordance with the principles of geomancy in which, in addition to the remains of the emperor, had to be preserved the treasures of the Qin Dynasty. No superstructure has come today. Instead, you see a huge mound of land now covered with vegetation. In 1974, some peasants digging a well discovered a pit containing terracotta statues depicting life-size warriors. The excavations, which were not yet completed, has allowed to uncover a veritable army of armed warriors and horses. Had not yet dug into an estimated 6000 other statues are buried. To the north of the first site have been found other cavities groundwater containing statues, weapons, chariots, horses. The total number of statues would - according to recent studies - to represent the exact number of the imperial guards.
0 comments:
Post a Comment