Brief Introduction: Located in the terra-cotta army pit of the first emperor's tomb in Lintong district, Xi 'an city, shaanxi province.The discovery of the Terra-cotta Warriors can be a hoard of legendary of life-sized clay soldiers intended to fill an emperor’s elaborate mausoleum.It is renowned as one of the world’s greatest archaeological events in the 20th century. It is listed as the world heritage list by UNESCO. It is also well known as one of top ten ancient tombs in the world and the"eighth wonder of the world" . Discovered in northwest of China and dating back to its first dynasty, the ceramic figures have shed light on the country’s ancient artistic practices and age-old burial rituals.

Besides offering a glimpse into distinctive approach to funerary art of Empire Chin, the sculptures are also celebrated for their scale and in terms of each individual sculpture’s height as well. Here some interesting and important stories will be shown , such as the history , its creation in the 3rd century BC and discovery in the 1970s of the Terra-cotta Warriors

History of the Terra-cotta Warriors

In 246 BC, Emperor Qin Shi Huang,the first emperor of feudal China, took the throne at his age of 13 only. As the ruler of the first Imperial Empire, he was greatly successful with several accomplishments, including standardized scripts and coins, the construction of the Great Wall, and the overall expansion and unification of the states.

In order to celebrate his triumphs and memorialize his life, he ordered to construct a mausoleum in Xi’an , which was a prosperous region dotted with jade mines and rich in gold at that time. He expected and planned a complex mausoleum filled with his precious possessions as he was alive , which included rare jewels and architectural models and as well as thousands of specially-made terra cotta soldiers to protect him in the afterlife.

To construct the great mausoleum took about 7,000 laborers decades  , but the site was still left unfinished when Emperor Qin died in 210 BC.

Discovery of Terra-cotta Warriors

For centuries,Emperor Qin Shi Huang's great and mysterious mausoleum had not been detected.However,in 1974 one of local villagers, Mr. Yang,found a large sculpture of a terracotta warrior while digging a well. Prompted by this surprising find, archaeologists began to explore the area, resulting in the discoveryof thousands of similiar warriors in four pits.

Designed with an impressive level of details,each figure is a one-of-a-kind work of art. The life-sized sculptures vary in height according to military rankings, with their uniforms, hairstyles, and even facial shapes and expressions following suit.

Though they appear the same shade of grey, the figures would have originally been realistically painted, accentuating their lifelike features and drawing attention to their eye-catching artisanship.

Besides the 8,000 soldiers themselves, 130 ceramic chariots and 670 horses were also found in the pits. Similarly, clay figures of dancers,acrobats, and musicians were also unearthed, though these whimsical figures are greatly outnumbered by the stoic army.

How they were made ?

Historians theorize that the heads and bodies of the warriors were made via assembly line production. This entails that each individual part, such as arms and legs, being made independently of one another to speedup manufacturing. Then, after being fired in the kiln, these various completed parts were assembled into one figure.

Due to the singular appearance of each warrior’s face, it is believed that artisans added individual clay features on top of the mold for the face—perhaps based on real soldiers at that time.

Additionally, many of the terracotta warriors originally held real weapons, such as swords, spears, crossbows, and lances.Although most of these historical artifacts have been stolen, 40,000 items still remain for historians to study.

The Level: World Heritage; the eighth wonder of the world

Admission fee: 120 yuan RMB

Opening Time: 8:30 a.m.—5:30 p.m.(Mar.16—Nov.15) ;8:30 a.m.—5:00 p.m.(Nov.16—Mar.15)

Visiting Time Normally: 2—3 hrs

Better Seasons to Visit: March to October

Travel Tips:  1, Do not use flash as you are taking photos over there;

2,Suggest you go there as earlier as you can, which avoid many tourists crowd there;

3, Do not suggest you visiting there during some holidays , especially National Day’s Holiday and Summer Holiday because there are a lot of tourists during that time.

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