The Original Hoarders

I recently visited the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana for an exhibit called “Warriors, Tombs, and Temples: China’s Enduring Legacy.” I was excited about the visit for two reasons; first, I kind of forget the Bowers Museum exists, since I usually head to the Getty when I’m in a museum-going mood, and whenever I do go, I am always reminded of what a wonderful museum it is (although too expensive to visit often). And second, I really don’t know anything about Chinese history or culture and was excited to learn some new things from the exhibit.

What drew me there were the famous life-size terra cotta warriors, but other than that I wasn’t sure what to see or expect. The exhibit was organized chronologically and walked visitors through three of China’s most important dynasties—the Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties—and it did this through the treasures found in imperial tombs and temples.

I liked that the exhibit started with the terra cotta warriors from the Qin Dynasty because I was eager to see them first. Over 8,000 soldiers have been excavated in the pits, but only a few were on display (obvi). They are from the mausoleum complex of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, which is regarded as the eighth wonder of the world. When I looked closely, I could still see some of the ancient paint on the warriors’ faces and garments. Every single warrior was painted and looked unique; studies show that eight face molds were used and then clay was added to provide individualized facial features. There were also kneeling archers on display—so intricately created that I could see details of their braids, clothing, fingernails, and even the tread on their shoes. There was also a life-size horse that was originally attached to a chariot, looking ready for battle. I was struck by how well-preserved these ancient figures were. Can you imagine what this army must have looked like in antiquity? Wow…

As we walked through the Qin Dynasty into the Han Dynasty, I noticed a marked difference in the terra cotta warriors from the tomb compound of the Han emperors (Gaozu and Jingdi)—they were smiling! They’re also about 1/3 life-size, so they were very cute, especially compared to the macho life-size mean-looking Qin Dynasty warriors. Did you know that women were known to dress as male warriors in the Han army? Mulan was the most famous—she took the place of her aging father and became a war hero after 12 years of service. Other objects from the Han tombs included figures of a dancer and an attendant. The figures were so detailed and in antiquity would have worn silk and hemp clothing. Great care was taken to make them as authentic as possible to be effective protectors and companions in the afterlife. The objects from the Han Dynasty painted a vivid picture of the peace and prosperity of the time.

Lastly, the exhibit leads to tomb treasures from the Tang Dynasty, a rich time in Chinese history because of the wealth brought into China from the Silk Road. The Tang Dynasty marked a golden age of poetry and the arts in China. There were a lot of interesting artifacts in this section of the exhibit, including a mural depicting a polo match, which struck me as being so odd. I thought polo was just western prepster nonsense. But apparently the ancient Chinese courts fancied it as well, after it was imported from Persia. There were also gold, silver, and jeweled treasures from the treasure-crypt of the Famen Monastery, a Buddhist site that was sealed in 874 and rediscovered in 1987. The site was founded with the historical Buddha’s finger bone, and the reliquaries are on display. By the way, did you know that Buddhism was imported to China from India?!

So, why did the Chinese stuff their mausoleums with so many things? Why did they hoard all this amazing treasure in their tombs and stuff it in with their dead? These objects were meant for protection, companionship, and entertainment for those in the next life. They ensured a comfortable, safe, and extravagant afterlife. It’s amazing how much insight we can gather from looking at these artifacts about ancient China—how they fought, what they wore, how they entertained, what they valued, their religious beliefs, even their humor.

The Chinese believed in ancestor worship and that people still existed even after death and needed to be buried with objects they'd need for the afterlife. Reverence was expressed by burying them with proper rituals and symbols and objects to attract good fortune. I wonder what I would want buried with me if I believed as they did…

I wish I had taken pictures, but you'll have to just go yourself to experience the exhibit, which runs through March 4th…get your tickets here.

Hometown Pride

My sweet friend Kylie calls my neighborhood the Hundred Acre Wood, because I live among about a billion eucalyptus trees. In the summertime, the breeze gently whispers through their leaves. And in the winter--well, a lot of them clunk over into the street when it rains (shallow roots, you see.). Still, they give Lake Forest a unique beauty.

The trees were planted in the late 19th Century because there was a lumber shortage in California at the time. In the woods behind my house where I used to help my big brother build tree houses when we were kids, you can still see perfectly straight rows of planted trees.

Want to learn more fun facts about my great hometown?

Check out The O.C. Gazette's February issue for my article on the history of Lake Forest.

I love the Gazette and am already working on my next assignment for them. I think I'll try typing up my next article. Real journalists use typewriters, right?

Our Old Courthouse is a very very very fine courthouse

Click here to read my latest article in the November issue of The O.C. Gazette. I had the privilege of writing about the Old Courthouse, the oldest court building in Orange County.

This is my first history piece for the magazine and I had a great time taking a couple of trips to this beautiful building and learning all about it. The structure itself was fascinating to explore, but learning about all the landmark court cases and movies filmed there was what really intrigued me. There are remarkable stories everywhere, aren't there? I wonder how many we miss because we're not looking for them...

Letters of Note

I had read about a book that was released earlier this year called Other People's Rejection Letters, a compilation of, yep, people's rejection letters. I haven't read it myself, but it includes everything from Jimi Hendrix's rejection letter from the Army to a kid's note to his parents: "I hate you. I'm running away." Sounds like an entertaining book, and a good read for anyone who's ever felt devastatingly rejected!

Anyway, a bit of internet searching for famous letters led me to an incredible website that I just can't stop reading. It's called Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience.

The site is an online collection of famous, important, tragic, and sometimes just darn funny postcards, faxes, memos, letters, and notes. There are actual scanned photographs of the correspondence as well as typed up transcriptions so they are easy to read.

Some of the many letters I looked over today included a note from Conan O'Brien to a girl who asked him to her senior prom (he couldn't go but was kind enough to write back!), a letter from Christa McAuliffe to a young fan about how excited she was to be the first teacher in space (she and her entire crew perished when The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after take-off), and a fascinating note to Marlon Brando from Jack Kerouac, trying to convince him to star as Dean Moriarty in the movie On the Road...which has still never been made into a movie. Could you imagine Marlon Brando as Dean? Oh, gosh!

I love letters, notes, and handwriting. A couple of years ago I went to the British Library in London and got to see Jane Austen's letters (I wish I had her handwriting), Captain Cook's journal, Handel's handwritten Messiah, and Beatles lyrics. They were so delicate and beautiful.

It's easy for us to see handwritten stuff as archaic and disposable, which makes me sad; letter writing has become a lost art. Letters are so personal and intimate. I feel like I shouldn't be reading some of these letters online, letters that were meant for a single person to read. But now they are historic documents that give insight into people's thoughts, motives, relationships, and personalities. They are just fascinating to me!!

Check some of them out on Letters of Note!

"Even when I am gone, I shall remain in people's minds."--Napoleon

On Saturday, my friend Sara and I trekked to Anaheim to the Muzeo, which is currently hosting the Treasures of Napoleon exhibit. I was excited to see it because I really didn't know much about Napoleon. While driving there, we tried to remember facts about him...all we could come up with was that he was short, he was excommunicated to Elba, and he was funny in Night at the Museum 2. Fortunately, we were able to learn a little bit more about him after attending the exhibit, which covered everything from his early life up to his death.

The first thing we wanted to figure out was what he really looked like. Obviously, Napoleon was conscious of controlling his image, and we weren’t sure if the portraits we saw were "real" portraits or just idealized images of a “hero.” Judging from the first-known portrait of him (above), at age twenty-eight, he was pretty attractive. Sara said she’d “totally go out with him.” Ha.

The other thing we wanted to figure out was who he really was, which we didn't really get a grasp on. From the information in the museum, we learned that he was a keen judge of character, yet somehow trusted disloyal colleagues. He seemed to be deeply in love with his first wife, but divorced her after she failed to produce an heir. He cared about his soldiers, yet abandoned them when he felt it expedient. He did everything he could to strengthen the French nation, but in doing so, kept her in a state of war for twenty years. After all this time, he is still a mystery.

I can’t tell you all of his famous battles or accomplishments or important information about him, but I can tell you the following:

His peeps discovered the Rosetta Stone when they invaded Egypt! (I'm jealous. I've always wanted to make an important archaeological discovery.) Napoleon brought teams of scholars, artists, and scientists along with his army when he traveled to document what they found. He valued education, was a voracious reader, and loved math and geography.

He was notoriously frugal about his clothes and he often would get things repaired that would have been easier to replace! The exhibit had a sleeve from one of his jackets…the story goes that a waiter spilled sauce on the jacket, he went to get the sleeve replaced, and the tailor kept the sleeve. You can still see the sauce on it! I bet if eBay had existed back then, tons of Napoleon’s things would have been sold on it. Even during his lifetime, his personal possessions were regarded as treasured relics of a great man. The exhibit even has a lock of his hair.

He was 5’6” tall and according to a general, his teeth were “bad and dirty.”

His grandnephew founded the F.B.I. Random!

He was kind of obsessed with personal cleanliness. He started each day with a one-hour hot bath. Then he shaved and washed his hands with almond paste and his face, neck, and ears with soap and water. Then he would strip to his waist and pour eau de cologne over his head and down his torso. (Guess he didn’t care as much about his teeth.)

Sara and I really enjoyed the exhibit. It’s easy to see how Napoleon used the arts as propaganda to build his legend and to instill respect and admiration for himself and his policies. He seemed to be in complete control of his image. It’s crazy to think about the power of art and how it has shaped our view of historical figures.

The last part of the exhibit was a dark room with a spotlight on Napoleon’s hat, the greatest icon of the legend. He wore it “broadside on,” meaning the sides were parallel to his shoulders, so that he could be distinguished from his officers in battle. It was definitely the gem of the exhibit and a thrill to see!

The exhibit is only here until January 8th, so visit soon.

Jefferson's Ten Rules

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.

Never spend money before you have earned it.

Never buy what you don't want because it is cheap.

Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.

We seldom repent of having eaten too little.

Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.

How much pain the evils cost us that never happened.

Take things always by the smooth handle.

When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, count a hundred.

Thomas Jefferson

Ashes, Ashes

Today I left work because the wildfires in our area have polluted the air with smoke and ash. The air is pretty much stuck and hanging in the office, and I couldn't handle it. After four hours of headaches and dizziness, I called it quits and headed home for some cleaner air.

This suffocating air and ash made me think about ancient Pompeii. The thick blanket of smoke smothering Southern California is tinting the world outside of my window an eerie orange color. That, along with the ash covering my car, reminded me of the last days of Pompeii as it was showered in ash and cinders as Mount Vesuvius spewed death upon the city.

On the 24th of August in the year AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted and hailed white-hot stones upon the thriving city. Next came the ash, which blinded everyone and choked their mouths and lungs. Some people took cover in the corners of their villas or shops; others tried to flee toward the nearby sea. Few got that far.

The Last Day of Pompeii, Karl Pavlovich Briullov; 1833.

The ash pounded the city and soon buried the rooftops of buildings. Terror was extinguished in death. And just like that, Pompeii disappeared from the world for 1500 years.

Pompeii wasn’t discovered again until the mid-18th Century, and what a discovery it was! The showers of wet ashes and cinders that accompanied the eruption basically sealed the town, preserving many shops, public structures, theaters, baths, private villas, mosaics, wall paintings, as well as artifacts like utensils and tools, coins, and even surgical instruments.

These are cast moldings of victims from Pompeii, frozen in their final agony. Once the ash and debris covered the bodies, it hardened. After the body eventually decayed and left an empty space, excavators realized they could fill the empty space with plaster and create a mold of the deceased.

Pompeii gives us amazing insight about domestic Roman life (the Romans took over the city in the 80’s BC). One of my favorite works of art, the famous Alexander Mosaic, was discovered in Pompeii in 1831. It is one of the most famous portraits of Alexander the Great even though much of it has been destroyed. You can still see his famous wavy hair! The mosaic was made of over one and a half million tiny tiles and shows Alexander attacking King Darius and the Persians.

Close-up of my man, Alexander, from the famous mosaic.

Pompeii today.

I have been anticipating my future visit to this curious place for a long time. Until then, I’m just looking forward to some blue skies, extinguished fires, and clean air in SoCal…