A Step into the Past
The Terracotta Army, The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, and bronze swords from the Qin dynasty.
After landing in Xi’an, our first stop was the Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum to see the Terracotta Army. The scale is immense: thousands of terracotta soldiers and horses form a vast underground army, with noticeable differences in clothing, hairstyles, and expressions from one figure to another. Preparing an army this large for himself more than two thousand years ago—Qin Shi Huang certainly knew how to plan ahead.
I seem to remember coming here back when I was doing academic competitions in high school. But that memory is now so distant that not even a vague impression remains.
But wait—is this high-ranking officer actually Louis Koo? After all, he did travel back to the Qin era as Xiang Shaolong in A Step into the Past.
The view from Mount Li was excellent.
I also fed a peacock nearby, and the photograph turned out remarkably well.
That evening, we watched The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, a large-scale outdoor historical dance drama at Huaqing Palace. The production follows the story of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Yang Guifei, using Huaqing Palace and Mount Li as its real-world backdrop alongside lighting, dance, and elaborate stage effects.
The production certainly earned its “large-scale” billing.
The next day, we visited the Shaanxi History Museum. Its collection spans the long history of artifacts unearthed across Shaanxi, including objects from the Qin dynasty. The bronze sword in the photo was excavated from Pit No. 1 of the Terracotta Warriors, and nearby was the famous Du Tiger Tally.
More than two thousand years old, the swords could still be seen intact before us. Their long, slender blades retained a remarkably sleek profile.
Nothing else left much of an impression.
And with that, the journey was over. It was time to return to the United States and take the team to the finals.