Terracotta Warriors, Xian, China

The year was 1974; three farmers were digging a well in the drought-parched Shaanxi province (near the modern city of Xian) in northwest China, when they stumbled upon the greatest archeological discovery of the century: the Terracotta Army. The 2,200-year-old remains of the life-sized army had been buried near the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi – the first emperor of China. Almost as soon as the discovery was made, archeologists flocked the area to dig their way through this enormous army of terracotta warriors. So far more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses have been excavated from the pits spread over an area of 14,000 square metres. The unexcavated tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi lies at the foot of Mount Li, not too far from the Terracotta Army, and is built in a pyramid shape.

 

The Mysteries of the Terracotta Soldiers

There are many legends surrounding the Terracotta Warriors. According to one legend, Qin Shi Huangdi (who is also responsible for beginning construction on the Great Wall of China) began the construction of his own mausoleum almost as soon as he came to power in 247 BCE, at the tender age of 13. It took almost 700,000 workers to build the necropolis and once it was complete he had all the workers buried alive within it so as to prevent disclosure of the tomb’s intricacies as well as protect the emperor in his afterlife. Another legend states that the emperor was obsessed with immortality and wanted to have the same military power and status in his afterlife as he had enjoyed during his lifetime. He was responsible for unifying much of modern day northern and central China, which of course would not have been possible without a proper army, hence, the 10,000 clay soldiers, along with horses, weaponry and chariots.

Visiting the Archeological Wonder

A visit to the Museum of the Terracotta Army is a must to get a closer look at the archeological wonder. Considered to be the eighth wonder of the world, it attracts around 2 million tourists every year! Each of these figures is life-sized and has unique features. You will not find any two similar looking soldiers – they all have distinct features and vary in height, uniform and even hairstyle depending upon their rank. All soldiers are believed to have carried weapons and were placed in battle formations. However, Xiang Yu, a military leader who is said to have overthrown the Qin dynasty was responsible for the looting of weapons and burning of figures. The restoration process was a complicated and painstaking one, and required the expertise of veteran archeologists over many years. What you see today is the hard work of many archeologists, who put the broken pieces together after carefully analyzing which fragment belonged to which statue. At the site you will also get to see approximately 40,000 bronze weapons that have been unearthed from the terracotta pits, including spear, sword, bow, arrowhead, crossbow, and many others.

After visiting the pits, stop by the museum shop and get the coffee table book about the archaeological find, personally autographed by Yang Zhifa, the only surviving farmer who first dug up the terracotta army. You can also take a closer look at replicas of the soldiers here.

How to Get There

To get to Xian, you can take a domestic flight from Shanghai or Beijing, which takes about 2 hours 30 minutes, or you can also travel by the high speed bullet train from major cities.