Xuzhou

I had never heard of Xuzhou prior to planning my trip. It does seem to be a pretty significant city though. The airport has international flights, there is a metro in the planning stages, and it even has a Starbucks (newly opened)! When I arrived at the hotel, I asked the receptionist about whether the hotel gets a lot of foreigners. She said that they did. They often had Koreans and Japanese and had an American a few days ago. She then lowered her voice and told me breathlessly that even had a black man stay there recently. I thought that I had it bad with the amount of attention I receive! I feel really sorry for any black person that travels around China.

Xuzhou actually was more cosmopolitan than I expected. At the Starbucks the next day, another foreigner was there, and later on when I went to the Carrefour, I saw a middle-aged white couple shopping in the imported goods section. If a no-name city in China is this cosmopolitan, think of what other places will be like in a few years. Previously horrible cities (like Suzhou), may become livable. While Xuzhou is somewhat cosmopolitan, it is still a very Chinese city at heart. Many ghastly white-tile buildings dot the skyline, although I did see a few which had been condemned. Massive new developments are rising in the city center. International hotel chains are moving in (Ramada). With a little bit of work, Xuzhou could be quite pleasant. It actually reminded me of Hangzhou, as it had a lot of hills rising above the urban area, offering patches of green.

On one of these green islands is located the Terracotta warrior museum. No, this is no the Xi’an museum of the same name, rather this is a Han Dynasty tomb with its own, smaller warriors. Unlike the warriors in Xi’an, you can actually go inside the tomb in Xuzhou, which is cut directly into the rock. The warriors are not as impressive as the ones in Xi’an as they are smaller and fewer. Nevertheless, in some ways I enjoyed these Terracotta warriors more. The natural setting was pleasant. There were fewer tourists, and there was no hype. In Xi’an, I was disappointed. The hype made me believe that what I was about to see would be incredible. But it really wasn’t. Sure, seeing legions of stone warriors in a big pit was impressive, but surely if the entire thing was excavated and you could walk next to the warriors it would be even better. Xuzhou is way off the tourist circuit, but for anyone adventurous, it is a worthy destination.