Stone Helmets and Armor Found Near Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum

A large pit full of stone helmets and armor has been discovered near world-famous Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum in Xi'an. The helmets and armor feature exquisite workmanship. Archaeologists were surprised at the large quantity of their discovery.

The pit, 129 meters long from east to west and 128 meters wide from south to north, covers an area of 13,689 square meters, larger than that of No.1 pit of the terra cotta warriors.

According to the archaeological team leader, Yunan Zhongyi, preliminary excavation shows that the pit's architectural structure is similar to that of the No.1 and No.2 pits. The underground complex has a wooden structure featuring adobe partition walls on the four sides, passage, and winding corridors around the pit.

Their excavation has uncovered, so far, 80 sets of armor and 30 helmets within a 70-square-meter area. According to the density of armors, it is estimated that the pit contains over 1,000 stone armor suits.

Archaeologists also found an extremely large drum-shape bronze tripod which weights 212 kilograms, the largest bronze tripod of the Qin Dynasty (212-206 B.C.).The body has two rows deformed-diamond designs,, and the hoof-like legs have patterns of animal faces.

Other surprising findings include over a dozen pottery warriors that are different from previously unearthed ones in terms of dress and attractive appearance. The warriors wear only a short skirt just large enough to wrap around the waist. Some are tall and strong , while others look slim and weak. The new finds embody the splendor of the cultural relics from Emperor Qin Shihuang's mausoleum.

Agricultural Sightseeing Tours in Fuyang

Almost all tourists to the ancient Longmen (Dragon Gate) Town under the jurisdiction of Fuyang City choose to visit the 27-hectare orchard to pick fruit, play games and enjoy beautiful mountain scenery.

Fuyang City received 393,000 Chinese and overseas visitors in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 27.2 percent over the same period of the previous year.

With the booming of ecological tours in recent years, Fuyang City, one of the forest cities to do develop folklores tours, promptly put forward the strategy to develop agricultural tours. The ancient papermaking and printing cultural village has opened to tourists. Across the river, Xinsha Island, the four-season orchard covering 67 hectares near the island, and the Mulan Garden Bamboo Cultivation Garden in the Huanggongwang Forest Park are also included in the tour itinerary. These provide tourists opportunities to return to the nature.

Dazhai Forest Park Takes Shape

Thirty years ago, Dazhai set a good example by struggling hard in agriculture. Dazhai became famous not only in China but also in the world. Nowadays, many outsiders probably have not learned that Dazhai's travel agencies and hotels cater to tourists, and that the Dazhai Forest Park had also taken shape. Locals have begun focusing in the travel industry.

In 1995, Dazhai's proposal for building a forest park was approved by the Provincial Planning Commission and the Provincial Forestry Bureau. Locals have already finished constructing the park gate, Xinsilou Hotel, a souvenir shop, the Octagonal Pavilion, and long corridors around a pond in the park.

Dazhai had distinguished itself with man-made tourist sights, including the Zhou Enlai Memorial Pavilion and Guo Moruo Memorial Monument on top of Hutou (Tiger's Head) Hill. Locals have succeeded in growing over a dozen kinds of imported flowers on four hectares of land.

Renovation of Ancient City Wall

Taiyuan City in Shanxi Province has recently begun renovating its ancient city wall at the Small North Gate.

The city wall at the Small North Gate is the only section of wall remains in Taiyuan City. For a long time, more and more illegal buildings and makeshifts structures were built in the protection area, threatening the remains of city wall.

According to the archaeologists, the city wall was part of the Great Wall built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

As the first step of the renovation, the city planning department will tear down illegal buildings and makeshifts structures. The city's cultural relic burean will then be bureauresponsible for renovating the city gate. A pedestrian street will be built along the city wall. In the end, the city wall will be 280 meters long and 11 meters high, and the watch tower the gate will be 25 meters high.

Yunnan Has Finished Constructing a Large Tourism Commercial City

Yunnan Jinma Biji Tourism Commercial City, the largest of its kind in the province, has been constructed in Kunming, capital of Yunnan.

The commercial city's buildings feature local architectural style. The city covers 56,000 square meters. Right in the center of Kuming City, the commercial city, together with Jinri Park, the Sanshi Pedestrian Street, and the east-west Xita Cultural Street with the latter still in the planning phase, forms the largest shopping center for tourists in Kunming.

Modeled after the Shanghai's God Temple and Nanjing's Confucius Temple, the commecial city's architecture stresses local historical tradition and characteristics of a community inhabited by many ethnic groups. It consists of a pedestrian street and an underground commercial city. Aside from different varieties of stores, the city also holds song and dance parties with ethnic groups participants, gourmet festivals, fashion shows, art auctions and commodity fairs on a regular basis.

A Russian Commodity Street

Adorable Russian dolls, antique Russian coffee pots, exquisite Russian gold ornaments and crystal handicrafts - all are available on the Russian Commodity Street in Heihe City, in northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province. Street venders also sell ancient coins and postage stamps and all sorts of other commodities from Russia. This makes shoppers linger and reluctant to leave.

The city proper of Heihe is not large,and the Russian Commodity Street is less the 200 meters from the south bank of the Heilongjiang River. This is the first of its kind in China. Entering the street, people can see that the stalls lining the street are piled with all kinds of Russian commodities. Each day, large numbers of tourists visit. Even they don't buy anything, they like to experience the Russian folklore.

The commodities include telescopes, series dolls, cameras, wrist watches, antelope's horns, prints of coper plates, tableware, and foodstuffs.

The commodity street opens at six o'clock in the morning and closes at seven o'clock in the evening.