Terra Cotta Army

Today I visited the Terra Cotta warriors museum in Xian.

Although it was a weekday , it was still packed with people. Mostly locals. I had a guide to pick me at the train station.

Xian, which is almost in the center of China, was the capital of China for a long time starting with the Qin dynasty. The capital only moved to Beijing with the Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty later.

This place was discovered in 1974 by some farmers who were digging a well. They came across broken pottery pieces, clay figures and metal weapons and alerted the authorities. It was only then people realized what they had discovered. The mausoleum of the first emperor of China, Qin shi huang, together with his fully armed terra cotta army comprising soldiers, horses, archers, generals and chariots to serve him in the afterlife.

There was no mention of this army in any records and therefore this was a lucky accidental find. Assembled in about 230 BCE, it had been buried underground for 2000 years waiting to be discovered.

3 pits that have been dug and exhibited. They have started digging a further 3 pits but they suspect there are over 600 pits in the surrounding area.

Can’t imagine the immensity of this construction more than 2000 years ago.

As a mausoleum for an emperor one cannot imagine a more perfect place. The place is very serene with lots of trees and mountains in the background. This place was clearly picked for a auspicious reason. Hard to imagine he had so many people killed to ensure the location of his mausoleum remained a secret and many others buried alive there to serve him after he died.

It is now suspected that after the emperor died, a rival entered the pits and stole the arms and destroyed most of the warriors and burnt the place down. That would also explain why all memories of this massive historical endeavor were forgotten to posterity.

It has been described as the eight wonder of the world and rightly so.

Outside the museum, the guide introduced me to the farmer who discovered the warriors while digging a well. He was 18 years old in 1974. He is farmer Yang and I got to shake his hand and get his autograph!!

I had a quick lunch near the museum before the tour. Pleasantly surprised with the good variety of food. I had broccoli, eggplant and chilli chicken.

In 2019 I saw the Great Wall and I have now seen the other wonder of China!