V. G. BUROV

Doctor of Philosophy

The city of Xi'an (the capital of Shaanxi Province) is associated with the name of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and terracotta statues of warriors and horses for many not only in China, but also abroad.

TERRACOTTA STATUE MUSEUM

In March 1974, a group of peasants from Lintui County, digging a well one and a half kilometers from the burial site of Qin Shi Huang (years of reign-221-210 BC), unexpectedly came across the remains of terracotta statues of warriors and horses. In 1976, similar remains were found in two other locations. As a result of research by archaeologists, it was established that they belong to the period of the first Qin emperor's reign. The discovery of terracotta statues caused a sensation in the scientific community and among the general public. The relics found were included in the 10 most valuable treasures of the cultural history of China.

On the site of the finds, a museum was created - three pavilions, underground galleries, in which terracotta statues are located. When you get inside, what you see makes an indelible impression.

In the first, with an area of over 14 thousand square meters, there are more than 6000 soldiers and horses, they stand in battle order. In the hands of the soldiers crossbows. In the second pavilion, which covers an area of 6 thousand square meters, there are approximately 1000 terracotta figures of warriors and about 500 horses, all of which are arranged in a certain order and are designed to confirm that the main fighting force was horse-drawn carts. The third pavilion, with an area of 520 square meters, has only a few carts and 68 statues. The height of each of the statues ranges from 1.78 m to almost two meters, and the weight - from 100 to 300 kg.

As the archaeologists found, the clothing and equipment of the warriors were made manually, their torsos are hollow inside, they are made of clay using special molds.

It was necessary to make considerable efforts to restore the statues, and to show the scale of the destruction, some statues were left in the form in which they were found, i.e. in the form of separate fragments.

MAUSOLEUMS AND BURIALS EMPERORS

Xi'an is known in China not only for its terracotta statues. First, it contains several burials of famous Chinese historical figures, first of all, the grave of Qin Shi Huang himself. He began building a mausoleum for his burial immediately after taking the throne. The construction, which involved over 700,000 people, lasted a total of 38 years. Once the height of the Mausoleum was 120 m, now after more than two thousand years after its construction - only 46 m.

Qin Shi Huang was a complex, controversial figure. On the one hand, he managed to end the fragmentation of China, unite the seven principalities (or kingdoms) and create the first unified centralized state in Chinese history. During his time, the Great Wall of China was built to prevent nomadic tribes from raiding from the north. On the other hand, he gave an order

burn all fiction and philosophical books, primarily Confucian; but leave books related to the Qin Dynasty, as well as writings on agriculture, medicine, and divination practices.

40 kilometers from Xi'an, there is a mausoleum with the burial of the fifth emperor of the Han dynasty Wu-di (reigned 140-87 BC). He went down in the history of China as a strong ruler, and the famous "silk Road"was opened during his time. During the time of Emperor Wu-di, a kind of unification of the various ideological and philosophical schools that existed at that time was made, and Confucianism became the state ideology.

The common grave of the third emperor of the Taoist Dynasty, Gao-tsung (628-683), and his wife Wu Zetian (624-705) is located 80 km from Xi'an. Gao Tsung formally ruled for 34 years. He was a weak-willed politician, not in good health. Power gradually passed into the hands of his wife, who was a strong-willed and determined woman. At the age of 31, she became Empress. Wu Zetian did not disdain any means. For example, she poisoned her eldest son, Li Hong, who was the first pretender to the imperial throne after his father's death. In 690 AD, Wu Zetian declared herself the holy Empress.

In the first years after the Cultural Revolution, Wu Zetian was compared to Jiang Qing, and thus the activities of the only empress in Chinese history were negatively evaluated. At present, a more objective point of view has prevailed, and many Chinese scholars view the period of her reign mostly positively. During her reign, the state was protected from external enemies, and the economy developed. She valued officials for their talents and promoted the most capable quickly. The first ministers of her reign are known as talented and wise administrators.

North of Xi'an is the grave of Emperor Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), who is considered the ancestor of all Chinese. According to legend, he was the leader of one of the tribes. Chinese tradition credits him with inventing weapons, boats, carts, and the bow and arrow. At that time, the Chinese (Han) tribes were divided. Huangdi managed to unite them under his own leadership, for this he needed to win 52 battles. According to legend, he lived 118 years. The mausoleum is located in Huangling County, Shaanxi province, covers an area of 40 square meters. m. In front of the Mausoleum is a memorial pavilion, on the pediment of which the handwriting of the prominent Chinese scientist Guo Mozho (1892 - 1978) is written - "Huangdi Mausoleum".

CHIANG KAI-SHEK UNDER ARREST

Huangcingchi (literally Huangqing Pond) is located on the way to the terracotta statues, just 5 km away.

At the entrance is a huge statue of Yang Guifei, the favorite woman of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong.

Yang Guifei's fate is tragic. When the existence of the Tang Dynasty was threatened by a rebellion, the emperor's entourage demanded its death. And even though Yang Guifei never

she interfered in state affairs and could not influence the fate of the dynasty, so he had to sacrifice his beloved. The concubine was only 38 years old at the time. After suppressing the rebellion, the emperor gave secret orders to build a special tomb for Yang Guifei.

There are also several small buildings nearby related to the Xi'an incident of 1936.At that time, two prominent generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, who were operating in northeast China, arrested Chiang Kai-shek. The generals were outraged that the commander-in-chief, instead of fighting the Japanese aggressors, focused on attacking areas controlled by the CCP. They suggested that the leaders of the Communist Party create a united front to fight Japan, but without Chiang Kai-shek. The CCP leadership did not take this step, considering that the possibilities of an alliance with Chiang Kai-shek were not yet exhausted, and demanded the release of Chiang Kai-shek. Visitors can explore the house where Chiang Kai-shek spent his time under arrest.

Chiang Kai-shek was vindictive, and he did not forgive Zhang Xueliang for this arrest. A few years later, he managed to arrest the general, and in 1949, while fleeing from the mainland, he transported him to Taiwan. There, Zhang Xueliang was imprisoned for several more decades (!), and was released only in the 90s of the last century, when he was almost 90 years old. After marrying a nurse who looked after his health during his incarceration, he left for the United States, where he died at the age of more than a hundred years.

WILD GOOSE PAGODAS

In Xi'an, there are two "wild goose pagodas" - a large one and a small one, both are monuments of Buddhist culture. The large pagoda is located 4 km from the city center. On the square stands a large statue of the monk Xuanzang, who in the 7th century made a trip to India, where he studied Buddhist sutras. After returning to his homeland, he preached Buddhism. The temple shows his entire journey to India and back.

The pagoda achieved its greatest fame during the Tang Dynasty. Its height is 60 m. It is known that when Xuanzang returned from India to Chang'an, the imperial court gave him a solemn welcome. This act symbolized the recognition of Xuanzang's contribution to the spread of Buddhism. As the vicar of the temple, he translated 335 volumes of Buddhist writings here into Chinese. All of them are presented in the library of the temple.

There is an interesting legend about the name of the pagoda. As you know, in India there are two branches of Buddhism - Mahayana and Hinayana. Adherents of the first, unlike followers of the second, are vegetarians. Xuan-tsang studied Buddhism at the Mahayana temple, near which there was a Hinayana temple. On one occasion, Hinayana Buddhist monks complained that they had no meat to eat. It happened on the Buddha's birthday. One of them looked up at the sky and said, " O great and merciful Buddha, don't forget what day it is." As he spoke, a flock of wild geese flew past the temple, and their leader fell dead on the ground. The monks were extremely frightened by this circumstance. Since then, the monks of this Hinayana temple stopped eating meat and became followers of Mahayana, and a pagoda was built on this site, called the "wild goose pagoda".

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY IN CHINA

There are still many historical monuments left outside of our story, and the city is literally stuffed with them. Not surprisingly, Xi'an is a major tourist destination today. It is also visited by foreign delegations. It is characteristic that one of his official visits to China, B. Clinton, as President of the United States, began with a visit to Xi'an.

But the most important thing, in my opinion, is that Xi'an, as well as other historical sites in China, is filled with tourists from various cities and provinces of China. The Chinese have started to discover their country in the last 20 + years. Before 1978, i.e. before the proclamation of the "policy of reform and opening up", ordinary Chinese were restricted in their movement in their native country. They could not travel outside the places where they lived without permission. There were many cases when a husband and wife did not see each other for a long time, because they worked in different cities.

In recent years, China has literally seen a tourism boom. In many cities, every day you can meet more than one group of Chinese people who have specially come for an excursion. They represent various organizations - from factories to educational institutions, from pensioners to young people. Guided tours are available at discounted prices, often with the help of party and trade union committees. It is no exaggeration to say that the organization of such trips is put on stream, which is undoubtedly the policy of the state.

Visiting historical sites is aimed at instilling a sense of pride in the country's historical past and fostering love for the Motherland. And looking at the tourists, listening to their conversations, it is impossible not to admit that the goal is being successfully implemented.

BIG WEST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Xi'an is also a major industrial, scientific and educational center in China. Among the higher educational institutions, we should mention North-Western University (its rectors at various times were prominent specialists in Chinese culture and philosophy - my teacher Prof. Hou Weilu, who passed away early due to persecution during the Cultural Revolution, and my fellow graduate student at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Zhang Qizhi). There are Xi'an Polytechnic University, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an University of Foreign Languages with the Faculty of Russian Language.

Before the beginning of the twenty-first century, Xi'an did not have such large-scale construction as in the more developed regions of China. However, with the adoption of the Greater West Development Program in 2001, the situation changed dramatically. The city began to develop rapidly. When I visited Xi'an again in June 2009, after a five - year break, I saw many new office buildings, hotels and, most importantly, I was pleasantly surprised by the construction of the first stage of the metro, which should connect the northern and southern districts of the city in 2010.

The "Greater West Development Program" includes not only Shaanxi Province, whose main city is Xi'an. It also includes other western provinces of China-Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Tibet. The program adopted by the Chinese leadership and designed for a long-term perspective provides for large-scale economic, social and cultural development of the region. Significant financial resources are allocated, while personnel workers and specialists in various spheres of the national economy are sent to this region from the central regions, and university graduates come here on Komsomol vouchers. The goal is to ensure the stable development of the"big West".

On this path, the Chinese leadership has been facing such a problem as the separatism of Uighur nationalists for a number of years. The events that took place in Urumqi, the capital of XUAR, in June 2009, when hundreds of people were killed and injured as a result of mass riots, indicate its seriousness.

The policy of the Chinese authorities to increase the presence of representatives of the Chinese, i.e. Han, nation proper here is designed to create a mass base for the ruling regime in this troubled area. Even now, in Urumqi itself, the majority of the population is Chinese.

This, by the way, is the fundamental difference between the situation in the XUAR and the situation in such North Caucasian republics of Russia as Chechnya and Ingushetia, where, figuratively speaking, there are only one and a half Russians left, and they have actually become mono-national.

There is no such radical trend in Buddhism as in Islam, which may be why Inner Mongolia today is a rapidly developing region, and the political and social situation here is stable. Moreover, in contrast to Xinjiang, interethnic marriages are not uncommon there. For a Mongolian woman, for example, marrying a Chinese man is considered prestigious. I had a Mongolian friend who proudly told me that her husband was Chinese.

During the June events in Urumqi, Han Chinese - regardless of their political sympathies or ideological views - unanimously supported the government's measures to curb the rioters.

...But back to Xi'an. Unlike prim Beijing, uninhibited Shanghai and bustling Guangzhou, Xi'an looks more modest. The people who live here are friendly and helpful. This is a city that you want to return to again.

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