Michelle Obama comes face-to-face with Terracotta Warriors
US first lady Michelle Obama, along with her daughters and mother, came face-to-face with the Terracotta Warriors yesterday as part of a week-long tour of the mainland that has taken in several tourist sites while largely avoiding politics.
US first lady Michelle Obama, along with her daughters and mother, came face-to-face with the Terracotta Warriors yesterday as part of a week-long tour of the mainland that has taken in several tourist sites while largely avoiding politics.
The family stepped into one of the vast pits at the burial site outside Xian, in Shaanxi province, to view the ancient statues. The site houses about 8,000 life-size warriors left by China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who reigned in the third century BC. The statues are a hugely popular tourist draw, attracting five million visitors last year.
Since arriving in Beijing on Thursday night for a visit focusing on "soft" issues, Obama has toured the Forbidden City, a former imperial palace, with her counterpart Peng Liyuan and also promoted education and overseas study.
She touched briefly on politics during a speech on Saturday at Peking University's Stanford Centre that was otherwise devoted to encouraging American students to study in China.
"When it comes to expressing yourself freely and worshipping as you choose and having open access to information, we believe those are universal rights that are the birthright of every person on this planet," she said.