ROUTE Ill: Xl' AN ;QIANLING MU-
SEUM
Ladies and gentlemen! Nice to see you. Today, we are going
to visit the Qianling Museum. It's as far northwest as 80 kilometres
from Xl'an. The Qianling Mausoleum is a joint tomb shared by Wu
Zetian, the only empress in the Chinese history and her emperor
husband, Li Zhi, the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Under
the feudal system that lasted several thousand years, Chinese wom-
en were chained to feudal ethics, and they were natrually considered
inferior to men. But how could a woman turn out to be an empress?
Let's go and find the answer together.
This is Yuxiang Gate. It's named after Mr. Feng Yuxiang, a
patriotic Nationalist Party general. It started in the sprtng of 1926
that Liu Zhenhua, an inferior of Warlord Wu Peifu, led his men in
the besiegement of Xl'an City. For as long as eight months, the
army and the citizens of Xl'an waged a tenacious defense against the
warlord soldiers. In November of the same year, General Feng
Yuxiang led his men all the way to Xl'an from Gansu Province, and
finally defeated the warlord soldiers and saved Xl'an from danger.
It's just across this place that General Feng Yuxiang led his men in-
to the urban area. In fact, it is the only way to the eastern portion
of the city. So it's called Yuxiang Gate.
In the tree belt that centres on the road stands a 51-metre
group statue in red granite, solar the longest stone statue in China.
According to historical records, this place was the starting point of
the Silk Road and also the site of the west gate to the outer city of
Chang'an more than 1, 000 years back. In other words, it indicates
the only way that earlier business men had to follow, whether west
--bound camelback traders in Chinese silks and satins or travel--
stained Persian merchants coming from afar.
This market town is called Sanqiao Town. The remains of
Tang--dynasty E'fang Palace and Han--dynasty Jianzhang Palace,
both famous in Chinese history, are located in the vicinity of the
town.
This is Fenghe River, a tributary of the Weihe River. Some
5,000 to 6,000 years back, the banks of the Fenghe River were
densely inhabited by primitive people. According to the result of
archeaological excavations, there is a primitive village site over a dis-
tance of less than one kilometre. This indicates a dense distribution
of villages over this area in the remote past. As far back as the llth
century B. C. , King Wen of the Western Zhou Dynasty established
a capital known as Fengjing, west of the Fenghe River. Later, his
son, King Wu extended the capital city to the eastern bank of the
river and called it Haojing. Western Zhou Dynatsty is the first dy-
nasty to establish Xi'an as the capital city in Chinese history. The
site of Haojing City is located about ten kilometres up the river on
the west side of this road.
The river that greets us is called Weihe River. Across the river
is Xianyang City. This bridge is known as Xiwei Bridge. It was ini-
tially built in the year 138 B. C.. It was called Xianyang Bridge in
the Tang Dynasty. It was the only way from Chang'an City to Xi-
anyang and to the Western Regions. And it was the farthest place
where natives of ancient Chang'an saw off their west- bound
friends and relatives.
Now, we are getting into the urban area of Xianyang City. Xi-
anyang is an old city. Emperor Qin Shihuang established the city as
his capital. According to China's traditional "principle of yin and
yang", the negative and the positive forces in the universe, the
southern side of a hill is "yang" while its northern is "yin".
The op-
posite is true with a river. Its southern side is "yin", while its
northern side is "yang". The character "ÏÌ"(Xian) as in "ÏÌÑô"
(Xianyang) means "whole or complete" in classical Chinese. Xi-
anyang City is located south of Mount Jiuzhong and north of Weihe
River. Judging from its geographical position, the city is called Xi-
anyang which means "completely yang". There are many other
place names which are also associated with the geographical position
relative to a river or mountain. For example, Huayin C0uny is lo-
cated at the foot of Mount Hua, one of the five famous mountains in
China. Specifically, it is located north o~ Mount Hua. So it is called
Huayin. Now, let's come back to Xianyang City. Xianyang City
has three districts and 11 counties under its jurisdiction. It occupies
an area of 10,213 square kilometers, and has a population of
4,330,000. The urban district covers an area of 523 square kilome-
ters, and has a population of 736,000. The city is rich in tourist re-
sources. As many as 27 emperors of the Han and Tang dynasties
are buried under the tableland north of the city, together with 256
satellite tombs. These tombs constitute a splendid imperial burial
complex, including the joint tomb of Empress Wu Zetian and her
husband, Li Zhi or rather Emperor Gao Zong of the Tang Dynasty
Zhaoling Mausoleum of Li Shimin, Emperor Tai Zong; Maoling
Mausoleum of Liu Che, Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dy-
nasty; and Lady Yang's Tomb. In July, 1990, two rows of pottery
warriors and horses in 24 pits were excavated in Yangling Mau-
soleum of Emperor Jingdi of the Western Han Dynasty. The site
covers an area of 96,000 square meters, and displays many pottery
warriors of high artistic value. The pottery figurines can compare
favourably with those discovered in Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb
with its rich tourist resources. Xianyang has been an attraction to
the travelling public. In fact, it's the second tourist city in Shaanxi
Province.
We have got to the tableland north of Xianyang City. Through
the window, we can see many earthern mounds in various sizes.
They are the tombs of the Western Han period from 206 B.C. to
24 A.D.. There were eleven emperors in the entire Western Han
Dynasty. However, nine out of them were buried under this stretch
of tableland, together with their consQrts, noble relatives, and min-
isters with a fine record of service. Up to this day, the tombs of
those 9 emperors have been well identified. But hundreds of other
tombs remain unknown to us. This is because the practice of erect-
ing memorial tablets before tombs did not start until after the East-
ern Han Dynasty from the first to the third century. Around those
tombs of the Western Han Dynasty, there were originally many
gorgeous ground building stuctures such as burial chambers, tomb
occupants. More than 2,000 years have passed, so naturally we
know nothing about the occupants.
Now, we are getting into Liquan County. As one of the
nation's commercial food centres, the county is rich in wheat,
corn, rapeseed and cotton, and sells more than 50,000 tons of com-
modity foodstuff to the state every year. Again as one of the
nation's quality apple production bases, the county is highly reputed
for "Qinguan" and "Qed Fuji" apples in China. We can see
a belt of
apple orchards along the road.
The mountain standing far ahead of us is called Mount Ji-
uzhong. Zhaoling Mausoleum of Li Shimin, Emperor Tai Zong or
the second supreme ruler of the Tang Dynasty is located on the
mountain. The Han -- dynasty mausoleums we saw just now, obvi-
ously stand over a vast stretch of flat land. But why does Zhaoling
Mausoleum stand high on the mountain? This is related to Empress
Wen De whom Emperor Tai Zong unduly trusted and deeply re-
spected. On her deathbed, she told Emperor Tai Zong to accord a
simple funeral to her and bury her on a mountain to save the trouble
of raising a grave mound. So Emperor Tai Zong chose Mount Ji-
uzhong as the burial site for him and his consort. And he also asked
his children to build a tomb on the mountain and hold a simple fu-
neral for himself when he passed away. Later, all the other emper-
ors of the Tang Dynasty also followed the suit. They had their
tombs built on a chain of mountains that cuts across a number of
counties north of the Weihe River, such as Qianxian, Liquan,
Jingyang, Sanyuan and Pucheng. Each emperor occupies a moun-
taintop. So there is a chain of imperial tombs that runs more than
one hundred kilometres across central Shaanxi Province. All the
twenty--one emperors of the Tang Dynasty were buried in the cen-
tral portion of Shaanxi Province except Li Ye, Emperor Zhao Di, Li
Zhu, Emperor Ai Di. Li Ye was buried in Mianchi County, Henan
Province, and Li Zhu in Heze County, Shandong Provice. Besides,
Empress Wu Zetian and Emperor Gao Zong shared the same mau-
soleum. So there are actually eighteen imperial tombs of the Tang
Dynasty in Shaanxi, known as "the eighteen mausoleums of the
Tang Empire across central Shaanxi" in history.
Now, we are getting into Qianxian County. The county is lo-
cated northwest of Xl'an City. According to the principle of "Eight
Tiagrams" (eight combinations of three whole or broken lines for-
merly used in divination), northwestern location is attached to "i~"
(Qian), which means "positive or light". This is how the county
got its name. Empress Wu Zetian and Emperor Gao Zong were
buried on the Liangshan Mountain in this particular county. Qian-
xian is well--known to natives of Shaanxi for its three delicious
snacks, namely guokui, fine dried noodles and jellied bean curd.
Guokui is a kind of pancake and looks like a pan cover. There
is a story about this local snack. As far back as the Tang Dynasty
when Qianling Mousoleum was under construction, official super-
risers worked out a tight schedule and even set limitations on meal
time in order to meet the deadline. So whoever was late for work
would be reproached, punished or even killed. In this case, a soldier
found a new way to prepare food for himself. He put a mass of
dough into his helmet and toasted it over a fire. The well--baked
dough was dry, crisp and tasteful. When he was hungry, he just
took several bites at it. Later, other soldiers and workmen followed
suit one after another. This special food was known as guokui or
helmet cake, for it was initially baked in a helmet but not on a pan.
The dough used to make goukui must be prepared in a limited
amount of water and then kneaded repeatedly with a thick wooden
stick. Goukui, in fact, can be stored for a very long time because it
contains very little water or moisture content. It is a favorite take
away food among rural people in central Shaanxi Province.
Fine dried noodles is another local speciality in Qianxian Coun-
ty. the flour of the wheat grown in the fields previously under
cloverleaf is the first choice out of many in making fine dried noo-
dles, for such flour tastes tough, smooth and delicious. This local
speciality is well received far and wide in Shaanxi. As a matter of
fact, making fine dried noodles has been a common household prac-
tice in this area all through the ages. When people go to visit rela-
' tives during New Year holidays or other festivals, they prefer to
make a present of fine dried noodles, ludging from the quality of
such a present, the host will find out whether the guest has man-
aged his wheat fields well and whether his wife has clever hands.
Jellied bean curd is a traditional local snack in Qianxian Coun-
ty. It not only looks pure white and tender, but also tastes fine and
smooth. Besides, it does not scatter when you mix it with a special
dressing.
Ladies and gentlemen! We are almost there at Qianling Muse-
um. But you must be hungry, I suppose. I have told you so much
about the local snacks in this area. Probably, you would like to
have a taste. OK! Let's get off for lunch first, and then visit the
museum.