The
Terra-cotta Warriors and
Horses in Xi’an are
known as "the Eighth
Wonder of the World" and
listed in the World
Cultural Heritage List.
In March 1974, peasants
in Xiyang Village came
across a piece of an
earthen figure when
digging a well, leading
to the discovery of Pit
No.1 in the present
Terra-Cotta Warriors
Museum. In the summer of
1976, pits No.2 and 3
were located. Over 7,000
individual pottery
soldiers, horses,
chariots and weapons
have been identified in
the three pits.
The warriors and horses
were sculptured to
protect the tomb of Qin
Shihuang (the First
Emperor). By 221 B.C.,
he defeated six
countries in less than
ten years, concluding
the chaos of more than
500 years known as the
Warring States Period.
By this time, China’s
first-ever centralized
feudal power was founded
and laid a solid basis
for the rapid
development of economy,
politics, ideology and
culture. Qin Shihuang
founded its capital in
Xi’an, and created one
of the greatest ancient
cities the world has
ever known.
Believing that he would
continue to rule his
country after his death,
Qin Shihuang ordered his
subjects to build a
magnificent underground
palace. Constructions of
the tomb began soon
after Qin Shihuang
ascended the throne.
Hundreds of thousands of
people worked 17 years
to complete it.
Qin Shihuang
commissioned a
contingent to protect
his tomb. These are the
terra-cotta soldiers.
The soldiers are
stationed in three
divisions, the east
army, the west army and
the central army. The
east army is in
rectangular formation
made up of a 3,000 field
warriors, while the west
army include 1,000
archers and clay men and
hundreds of horses. The
army headquarter is in
the central army. The
heights of the soldiers
vary from 1.7 meters to
1.9 meters, and the
weights from 100-odd
kilograms to 300
kilograms. The
terra-cotta horses
exhumed from the site
were meant to be bred in
northwest China. They
are 1.5 meters tall and
two meters long.
The clay statues are in
life size and were
modeled after the real
members of Qin
Shihuang’s army. The
facial features and
expression are depicted
so vividly in life that
one can almost
understand the soldiers’
characters, and which
part of the country they
came from, and one can
tell from the soldiers’
garment and posture and
weapons his position in
the army.
While the soldiers and
horses are made of clay,
the weapons are real.
The terra-cotta army
actually holds a
complete arsenal of Qin
Dynasty. The majority of
the weaponry is made
from copper and tin in
addition to 13 other
rare metals. Some of the
weapons were never
discovered before and
demonstrated more
advanced craftsmanship
than expected. For
instance, an underground
bronze sword still
shines after having been
buried underground for
more than 2,000 years.
The ancient craftsmen
also used special
treatment to prevent the
sword from getting
rusty.
There are also two sets
of bronze chariots and
drawing horses on show.
The chariots, horses and
figures were cast at a
scale of 1:2. The
chariots were decorated
with 1,720 pieces of
gold and silver
ornaments, weighing a
total of seven
kilograms. |