Xi’an_Day 2 | work hard, play hard

Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology

This was a beautiful school that is producing some very interesting work. We were given a tour around the campus and the schools museum where we learned a little about the important history of Xi’an and the school itself; including Liang Sicheng, who is considered the father of modern architecture in China and who was the founder of school and Tiananmen square. Lin Huiyin, his wife, was the first female architect in China and helped developed the Chinese flag.

We also got to see the inside of the architecture studios and they were the same as Dudley…total chaos! It is so interesting to me how architecture studios across the world can resemble each other. They also consist of stressed out, tired students with a presentation area full of amazing work and desks that are a complete mess with stacks of models and papers in every nook and cranny.

Before we left

we were given a brief presentation on the history of Xi’an and the efforts being put forth to preserve all of its history. The thing I found most interesting about the presentation was seeing the development of the city through thousands of years and learning that in order to restore an ancient palace garden the city moved thousands of families out of their homes, relocated them, destroyed their houses and then re-built the old palace.

After the great school visit, we had a half day free to explore this historic city…and we took advantage of it! First, we around trying to climb the ancient city walls, however, we were unsuccessful. So, instead, we went for a foot massage. For 80 Yuan ($12) we received a one-hour foot and shoulder massage. At first it was relaxing but then they increased their roughness and it felt like a total beating! It was so funny! Dong kept saying, “I think they are trying to kill us!”. The masseuse spoke no English and we spoke no Mandarin, so our only form of communication was google translate which was not translating correctly…which only made things funnier!

After our amazing but brutal massage, we headed to the other side of the city to find the main entrance of the old city walls. Here we were able to rent bikes and bike 7 miles around the city. This was so fun! We managed to time it perfectly to do this activity at sunset. As we continued our journey the lanterns along the path lite up which made an extra beautiful view.

Total Mileage: 11