The Shaanxi History Museum
On Lunar New Year's day, someone flies a kite into infinity in front of the museum.
Visiting the Shaanxi History Museum during Spring Festival was a unique adventure. This is how it went.
On Lunar New Year's Eve, I decided to go early to the museum, that had been recommended to me by a friend. I hop on the bus (public transportation is the way to go in this city!) and ride for like 20 minutes south to where the museum is and I'm like "awesome! It's empty". Soon enough I wipe that ridiculous smile off my face. It's was closed. Great. So then I try to go the nearby Giant Goose Pagoda (future post!), closed. I go to the park. Guess what? Closed! Not even the park was open!
Oh, well. Tough luck, I thought, I'll come back tomorrow.
10:00
So the next day I do the same thing, expecting to see a line when I got there. There was no line. There was a sea of people. An infinite headcount worthy of a World Cup final. Do I stay? Do I go?
I stay.
I go all the way to the of the line.
A huge mass of people waits to get in the Shaanxi History Museum. In the back, people waiting to get a ticket, in the foreground, to get in the museum.
The museum is free to visit, and only a certain number of tickets are given out each day. A guard would stand in line with a sign marking that after that point, no more tickets would be distributed. People would still line up and wait, I have no idea why.
Man cleans scabs and dandruff from his head while he waits for a ticket to the museum. That was gross so I had to point it out. The average waiting time in line was about 2 and a half hours. Giving out the tickets was quick, but then they would close the ticket counter for 30 minutes or so and leave people waiting.
Cutting line was endemic. So many people just not caring and walking in front of others. This lady got higher to call her friends that stayed behind.
12:30
I got in! Ufff! Finally. I'm glad I had a good breakfast.
The place was packed. It was hard to even see the exhibits. Here, kids and adults pile themselves on a replica of a tomb.
Getting close to any exhibit was a challenge. Dozens of people competed for the same spot and in a very unordely fashion. There was no line, just chaos.
If you think most people wanted to actually see these relics, you are mistaken. All they want are pictures of the items. Some would take pics of every single object on display.
A selection of the famous terra-cotta warriors are one of the most prized exhibits in the museum. Competition for a picture at this spot was fierce. Only the strongest survived.
14:00
In about two hours I had seen all possible exhibits. That's less time than I spent in line, in case you didn't notice.
I actually liked the museum very much. Very well organized and items with so much cultural value. Of course I'd prefer there were less people, but that's my own fault that I decided to go in the busiest of Chinese holidays.
I wasn't the only one tired by then. This little girl was taking a nap in the paintings room.
This room, which is used for selling local artist's work, also functions as a rest area. Grandpa there wasn't snoring too loud.