12/10

Yes, we are the scariest pottery EVAH!...

The emperor built an army to keep out whatever he felt would disturb his afterlife (I don’t know what: spirits, the ghosts of his enemies — or maybe he just wanted a grave that was an exercise of his power). But whatever it was, he could not keep out the hordes of tourists that go to see his pottery warriors. He would have considered me a barbarian, although I think he would reconsider his view if he learned that I am literate (although not in a language he would consider matters) and have seen a world he could not even imagine existed. Maybe that wouldn’t change his view. I am thoroughly vulgar after all.

... and we are fierce clay horses

*

At the bar, Tiger is showing us card tricks. When the Chinese can speak English, or are confident they can, they are friendly and good people. Any hassles you have with them seem only to be outcomes of their reserve and the difficulties of communication. Tiger makes us play a huge game of paper, scissors, rock, six-handed, to work out who should drink a glass of beer. He has his own rules for deciding who has won but they work well.

We are all drunk. I’ve been lucky in Xi’an to meet some great people, who have been easy to laugh with. Heavy drinking helps but people are intrinsically interesting, if they let themselves be.

We do not want to get hammered