Silk Road: Yangguan Pass and Yumen Pass

Yangguan Pass is surrounded by a fence

We visited the two westernmost frontiers in China during the Western Han Dynasty in Gansu province near Dunhuang. Well, three to four hours' drive from Dunhuang. They were both important points along the Silk Road.

Yangguan Pass was built by Emperor Wu in 120 BC and was considered a military lookout post, while Yumen Pass, also known as Jade Gate, was used during the Han Dynasty where people went through here along the Silk Road to get to Central Asia.

Visitors can go through Yumen Pass, that's like a fortress

Yumen Pass had a museum that visitors could go through before heading outside to see the actual structure, a giant brick structure that looked like a fortress that you can walk through.

However Yangguan Pass requires a golf cart trip to get to, and then it's surrounded by a fence. Both look like shadows of their former selves... but that's what happens thousands of years later when they fall out of use.

Nevertheless, both are points along the Silk Road that should be visited, though driving to get to both points (north and south) was a slog!

Silk Road: Leitai Han Tomb

The Flying Horse in its glory finally revealed at Leitai Han Tomb

When I was a kid, I remember my father bringing home a statue of a horse that was running so fast it was captured balancing on one foot. He glued it onto a granite slab, and while I thought the horse looked pretty cool, I didn't understand the significance of it -- until decades later.

An army of soldiers and horses led by the Flying Horse

It is known as the Flying Horse, galloping so quickly that it is stepping on a bird. The original statue was found at Leitai Han Tomb in 1969 when some farmers stumbled upon the tomb of an official from the Han Dynasty which held funeral treasures. The horse was quickly adopted by Lanzhou as its official symbol and you can see replicas of it displayed everywhere, like the airport and other government buildings.

The actual statue is quite tiny, along with an entire cavalcade of soldiers, horses and chariots. They can be seen in a museum, while much larger versions of them are displayed above ground.

It is believed the rest of the treasures were stolen by robbers...

Visitors can also go down into the actual tombs, which entails going down a long dark narrow path before you finally reach the end, which is very cool, but there's nothing to see, except the ceiling that is made of brick but reinforced with a metal web.

Farmers would pray to the God of Thunder

We went down into two tombs when once was plenty.

Above ground is Leitai Temple, Leitai referring to the God of Thunder, that farmers would pray to for rain to have a good harvest.

China's Soft Power Show at The Met

Intricately designed wine vessel of bronze and gold inlay

One of the exhibitions on now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is called Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221BC-AD220) until July 16.

Earthenware dancer full of movement

It features 160 objects that were excavated from imperial tombs over the years from the Qin and Han dynasties that help give us a better idea of what life was like, particularly for the privileged classes.

We tried to use the free audio guide, but the attendant somehow ran out of headphones but not the gadgets, so we just relied on the captions to explain. For the most part they were fine, giving explanations of the pieces much like how things were described in my art history class -- lots of observation and imagination.

Many of the items we saw were in very good condition, which makes you wonder about the rest of the things unearthed -- there must have been thousands of items that were crushed or so disintegrated there was nothing left to show.

A lively bronze horse with its groom

We particularly liked the sculptures of animals, both large ones like a bronze horse that looked energetic with its nostrils flared and looking confident with its groom, to an anatomically correct replica of a goose, to a small representation of an elephant and rhinoceros. All these animals were with the deceased in their journey to the underworld.

Even remnants of fabric managed to survive all these centuries, giving us an idea of the kinds of patterns and colours of the clothes they wore at the time. There were also lacquer trays and bowls -- that were even found with food on them when they were excavated. Pretty amazing.

Delicate embroidered fabrics that have survived centuries

I'd see the terracotta warriors before in Xian, so seeing a few of them on display wasn't as impressive. Nevertheless, the large bronze wine vessels with intricate designs were, along with the jade funeral suits that looked like patches of jade armour all over the body, and models of two and three-storey houses.

For the China this was an excellent exercise in soft power  -- linking this exhibition to the Silk Road -- and hence Belt and Road -- as a way to get everyone on board or at least interested, as some pieces in the show were from the Middle East to demonstrate that China didn't just conquer other people, but integrated part of their cultures as well.

A jade funeral suit connected with gold wire

Granted the exhibition is also sponsored by the likes of the Joseph Hotung Fund, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the estate of Brooke Astor to give the show more street cred with the New York and arts crowd, the major sponsor is China Merchants Bank -- a big PR coup for the state-owned bank.

Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221BC-AD220)

Gallery 899, The Tisch Galleries

Until July 16, 2017