Terracotta soldiers

Working 8 days in a row means that there’s not a lot of exciting news to share. However I it does mean that I have been walking the same route from the skytrain to the office everyday, and I have been passing a particular painted terracotta soldier for a month now. I have noticed painted terracotta soldiers all over the city – I have no idea what they are for, but I would guess that the travelling terracotta artifacts that China has put on exchange with museums all over the world must have visited Vancouver at some point and the city must have heralded the event with its own set of painted terra cotta soldiers and decided they liked them so darn much they’d plop them all over the city.

I myself did not see the Terracotta soldiers when they came to the British Museum a few years back, because I’d seen them already, strangely, in Malta. Keith and I were there on holiday (our first holiday together as a couple!) over Easter 2007 and we had massively failed in accounting for the fact that Malta is a fairly Catholic country and therefore over Easter there was nada open. The heritage museum (quite tiny, much like the entire country) was open though and they were hosting the travelling Terracotta soldiers! I was beyond excited because I’d always wanted to see them, and if there’s one place in China I’d like to travel to (and probably the only place, except MAYBE Beijing for the Great Wall and the Forbidden City), it’s Xian for the Terracotta soldiers. I love archaeology – I’m not very knowledgeable about it or anything, but something about digging up long lost treasures from a lost time really captures my imagination (I guess it does for everyone else as well and hence all those Indiana Jones movies - that fourth one with the crystal skull was horrible). That’s why I would count the Acropolis at Athens as a top travelling experience (despite the rest of Athens seeming to be a bit of a sh*thole), and am still gutted that I haven’t made it to the Giza pyramids or Valley of the Kings in Egypt yet (but I will, I swear I will!).

Anyways as usual I digress.  So this one terracotta soldier I keep passing, I had noticed had lots of animals on it. But today I finally noticed the giant rat on the leg:

And I thought – ew! Why would you choose a rat to paint? They are gross! Then I realized… that they are all the animals from the Chinese zodiac! Of course, my sign, the monkey, features prominently, because that’s how COOL I am. Monkeys are the best. Only elephants beat them in cool-ness  but elephants are not part of the Chinese zodiac.  Here’s the back of the statue so you can see all of the animals.

Seeing the Chinese zodiac animals reminded me how this year is year of the Dragon, and a lot of crazy Chinese people (which is most Chinese people) have been gunning for a baby this year because that would make their baby a dragon baby. Dragons are considered very good luck and are associated with celebration – at all Chinese weddings the head table / stage is usually decorated with a dragon and a phoenix (representing a groom and a bride, respectively). We are one superstitious race.  Besides my new niece Eloisa, I know three dragon babies imminently arriving this year – Taryn will have to renege her Saffa culture for a millisecond and celebrate her dragon baby when little baby Selvon arrives in August. Gasp, and Karen has been struggling to agree on a baby name with her hubby – how about Dragonball???

p.s. i can't figure out what the animal on his front right leg is. is that a komodo dragon or something, because the artist felt a need to use real animals and dragons aren't real???