Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an

In March, we went back to China--this time to Xi'an.  It was a place that I didn't know much about, other than my brother studied there for a summer at the engineering school in college twenty years.  He was the only white kid there and the only Western food at the time was KFC.   The main reason to go to Xi'an, of course, is the terracotta warriors.  They were discovered in 1974 when a farmer was digging a well during a drought.  Imagine his surprise when he instead discovered an unknown tomb and about 6,000 warriors. 

When my brother was there, it was just a pit and now it is a main tourist site, complete with the stalls for all the souvenir stuff you could imagine.  There are a million tourists there and a million tour guides harassing you to hire them.  We walked to the main building, which housed pit 1, and passed by several carved steps that were reminiscent of the steps at the Forbidden City.

The Chinese tourist industry is trying to dress up the surrounding areas of these pits with wall carvings as well as they build a new museum. 

The warriors are part of the Qin Shi Huang's burial site.  He was the first Emperor of Qin dynasty, and where we get our Western word for China.  He lived about 260-210 BCE and as soon as he ascended to the throne (at age 13, about 246  BCE), he began construction on his mausoleum and all the items and people he would need in the afterlife.  This included his terracotta warriors.

on the wall

walking to the Pit, with a new museum being built behind Will.

 
The first pit to be discovered is called Pit 1 and it has 6,000 warriors and several dozen horses.  The warriors are all different: different hands, different top knots in their hair, different uniforms, and different faces.  They are hollow and archeologists and historians think that there was a factory-like set-up in creating them.  The men creating this clay army would mix and match molds to create individual warriors, charioteers, and horses.  Experts think that it probably took about 700,000 mean to create the army, its weapons, and chariots, and the mausoleum (which has yet to be even opened). 

There are three pits on display and current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried.  Other terracotta non-military figures have been found in other pits not open to the public yet and they include officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. The figures vary in heights as well; the tallest being generals of course.

The figures were placed in the pits in precise military formation according to rank and duty, and most held real weapons such as spears, swords, or crossbows. Originally, the figures were also painted with bright pigments, variously colored pink, red, green, blue, black, brown, white, and lilac. Most of the original weapons have either rotted away or looted and the paint has faded from the faces.

When my brother was there, there was not a proper structure covering Pit 1, the only one open at the time.  Now, there is a huge hanger-like structure over the pits.  The first section of Pit 1 shows the warriors and horses lined up in formation, facing a gateway, ready to protect the Emperor from evil spirits.   There are 11 corridors that were originally covered by reed mats supported by wooden beams.  Dirt was filled in on top of the soldiers, buried to protect their king. 

Towards the back of the Pit 1, you can watch archeologists are work: inspecting the broken shards of clay, measuring the faces, and reconstructing the warriors and horses. The workers somehow "glue" the pieces together and use saran wrap to hold the pieces in place as it dries.  Once a figure has been put back together, he awaits his turn in being placed back in formation.  It seems as if the archeologists work right on top of still-buried warriors.

Pit 2 has cavalry and infantry units as well as war chariots, that have rotted away. It is thought to represent a military guard. 

pit 2

broken warriors in pit 2

 Pit 3 is the command post, with high-ranking officers and a war chariot.

Pit 3, with the mats on top still

Several figures have been set aside as perfect examples of the warriors.   There is a kneeling spearman, his spear long ago destroyed.

A cavalry man leads his horse with an amazing bronze bridal 

a warrior yet to be reassembled with his body

Attached to the pits is a museum that gives some historical context to Emperor Qin and his accomplishments for China.  He expanded the Great Wall, standardized weights and measures, and divided his empire into administrative units, which allowed it to be better ruled.

Emperor Qin

When he died, his body was placed in a bronze chariot that is 50% smaller than a real chariot and horses.  There are two chariots on display: the first one has a driver who holds an umbrella over two seats and the second one in which his body was hauled. 

They were unearthed in 1980 and are two of the 64 designated historical artifacts that can never leave Chinese soil. 

driver of chariot 1

 The second chariot was discovered in pieces and it took about 5 years to restore.

second chariot

Will reflected in the glass, looking at chariot 2

horses of chariot 1

horses of chariot 2

chariot 2

entry into pit 1

It is truly an awesome site.  The sheer number of these warriors is astonishing and the archeologists haven't really begun excavated the entire burial site.  According to an ancient Chinese historian, the First Emperor was buried with "palaces, towers, officials, valuable artifacts, and wondrous objects." If we are to look at the warriors, I can only imagine what is still buried in the tomb.