Archaeologists Think Hidden Imperial Tomb May Be Too Deadly to Explore

After discovering a secret palace hidden in China's first emperor massive burial complex, Chinese technicians are nervous. Not because Qin Shi Huang's tomb is the most important archaeological discovery since Tutankhamun, but because they believe his burial place is full of deadly traps that will kill any trespassers. Not to talk about deadly quantities of mercury.

Palace of first Chinese emperor unearthed

The Chinese state media reports that archaeologists have excavated the palace complex of Qin Shihuang in Xi'an, China, site of the life-size terracotta soldiers. The palace consists of 10 courtyard buildings and one main building, the paper reported. The complex runs about 2,264 feet long and 820 feet wide. The total area is about a quarter of the size of Beijing's Forbidden City, built in the 1400s.

The Secret Tomb of China's 1st Emperor: Will We Ever See Inside?

Buried deep under a hill in central China, surrounded by an underground moat of poisonous mercury, lies an entombed emperor who's been undisturbed for more than two millennia.

Xi'an to Beijing Overnight Train

Being in China is never a lonely feeling.



After a full day of sightseeing, and a packed train station we are ready to stop moving!



We both thought sleep would come easy. What we did not count on was the hard beds, the roar and lights of the continuously passing trains, thunder and lightning storms, and the excitement of just being on an overnight train in China!



Breakfast is served!



Deb looking surprisingly fresh after a rough night of sleep!

Pedi-cab Ride On The Wall

Me upsetting the male/female status quo for all of China!





These guys were great! They took many photos of us together and really made the ride fun.



Our drivers.

Xi'an City Wall

When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), captured Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should 'built high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor,' so that he could fortify the city and unify the other states. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang dynasty (618 -907), creating the modern Xian City Wall. It's the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

After the extension, the wall now stands 12 meters (40 feet) tall, 12-14 meters (40-46 feet) wide at the top and 15-18 meters (50-60 feet) thick at the bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles) in length with a deep moat surrounding it. Every 120 meters, there is a rampart which extends out from the main wall. All together, there are 98 ramparts on the wall, which were built to defend against the enemy climbing up the wall. Each rampart has a sentry building, in which the soldiers could protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy. Besides, the distance between every two ramparts is just within the range of an arrow shot from either side, so that they could shoot the enemy, who wanted to attack the city, from the side. On the outer side of the city wall, there are 5948 crenellations, namely battlements. The soldiers can outlook and shoot at the enemy. On the inner side, parapets were built to protect the soldiers from falling off.

Since the ancient weapons did not have the power to break through a wall and the only way for an enemy to enter the city was by attacking the gate of the city wall. This is why complicated gate structures were built within the wall. In Xian, the city wall includes four gates and they are respectively named as Changle (meaning eternal joy) in the east, Anding (harmony peace) in the west, Yongning (eternal peace) in the south and Anyuan (forever harmony) in the north. The south gate, Yongning, is the most beautifully decorated one. It is very near to the Bell Tower, center of the city. Important greeting ceremonies organized by the Provincial Government are usually held in the south gate square.

Each city gate has three gate towers: Zhenglou, Jianlou and Zhalou. The most outside is Zhalou, which stands away from the City Wall and is opposite to Zhenglou. It was used to raise and lower the suspension bridge. Jianlou with small windows in the front and flanks was used as a defensive outpost. Zhenglou, in the inner, is the main entrance to the city. The wall connects Jianlou and Zhenglou Towers. The area between them within the wall was called 'Wong Cheng', in which the soldiers stationed. From Wong Cheng, there are sloped horse passages leading to the top of the city wall.

Initially, the wall was built with layers of dirt, with the base layer including also lime and glutinous rice extract. Throughout the time Xian City Wall has been restored three times. In 1568, Zhang Zhi (the government officer of that period) was in charge to rebuild the wall with bricks. In 1781, another officer, Bi Yuan, refitted the city wall and the gate towers. More recently (since 1983) the Shaanxi Provincial Government restored the city wall again. A circular park has been built along the high wall and the deep moat. The thriving trees and flowers decorate the classical Chinese architecture of the wall, adding additional beauty to the city of Xian.

Always Good To Find One Of These!

Terra-cotta Warriors

Horses used to pull chariots made it, but the wooden carts they pulled were burned during the rebellion or rotted away over 2000 years.



China, cooperating with German archaeologists say the next batch of warriors to be restored will retain their original colors!







Not one warrior made it through intact! During a peasant rebellion the tombs where rushed and everything was smashed. Each and everyone you see, has been repaired from bits and pieces.

Terra-cotta Whitten's

Xi'an Terracotta Warriors

Click on title for more information!

Long Way To Xi'an!

We already had a late flight out of Shanghai with a departure time of 8:30pm. All was fine until the flight was delayed due to a "bad plane." Long story short we finally checked into our hotel at 3:00am! It was a rough time getting up this morning at 9:00, but we did it!

We visited the terra-cotta warriors, the Xi'an History Museum, and the wall surrounding the city. All very cool and all very hot!

I am typing this as we are rolling through the night on our train heading to Beijing. We have a bunk bed, a small table, and a private bathroom. We have been trying out a variety of wild guess food items we picked out at the train station and so far so good.

The last two days have been some of the most memorable adventures I have ever had! I have a ton of photos to share, but will have to wait for internet at the next hotel!