Terracotta Warrior Museum of Xian(1863 views)

Release date:2010-01-25 10:36:55

Xian is a city full of history. It was called Chang’an in the past, meaning “perpetual peace”, and it carried out this promise of stability by being home to 13 dynasties. The first of these dynasties produced the Terracotta Warriors, which rise proudly from Xian’s ancient soil. They are a breathtaking tourist attraction, popular with visitors from all over the world. Called bingma yong in Chinese, “soldier and horse funerary statues”, the warriors were uncovered by a farmer in 1974, about 30 kilometers from the city of Xian proper.

The warriors guard the tomb of first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang Di. He lived around 2200 years ago and is famed as the emperor, who not only united the warring states to form one nation, but also standardized the systems of currency, weights and measures, and even the writing of Chinese characters. To cement his achievements and to ensure that he would go on ruling in the afterlife, Emperor Qin commissioned a massive tomb complex. The project was undertaken by around 700 000 men who worked for almost 40 years. The tomb complex covers an area of 57 km sq.: what we can see today is still only a fraction of it.

The most famous and most popular part of the Terracotta Warrior Museum is the great hall in which row upon row of lifelike, individualized soldiers stare back from eternity into the faces of tourists. During holiday times in China, this hall can become quite crowded and it can be difficult to get a good and unhurried view of the soldiers: it is better to plan your trip during quieter times of the year so that you can appreciate the workmanship of these terracotta facsimiles of Qin’s army.

But aside from the soldiers, other kinds of statues are being uncovered by the ongoing efforts of archaeologists. An excavation carried out in 2001 discovered statues which appear to represent entertainers. They are, perhaps, baixiyong – court jesters who performed acrobatic and magic tricks, songs and dances. Other statues were not so easy to understand but their strong, naked upper bodies could tell us that they were bodyguards of some kind. Even farm animals have been discovered. This variety seems to indicate that Qin wished to represent every aspect of his court as it was in life – much like the Egyptian pharaoh’s who sought immortality by ensuring a continuum between this world and the next.

The statues were originally painted but because of the painting techniques, the passage of time, and both the vandalism that has occurred and the process of excavation itself, the paint has fallen away. However, excavations in 1999 using new techniques to preserve the paintwork from the atmosphere revealed the dazzling variety of colours used on the statues - Artists had even painted the face of one soldier green.

Archaeologists think that there may be 8000 warriors in the whole complex, though only around 1500 have been uncovered at present. The tomb mound itself also remains unexcavated. In the years to come, as scientific and archaeological techniques become more advanced, Qin’s tomb may reveal many more splendors, confirming the historical records of what lies beneath the burial mound.

The Terracotta Warrior Museum of Xian is and will remain a fascinating insight into the period when China was born. Buses (look for the 306) to the museum leave regularly from Xian’s main railway station and are inexpensive, costing around 7 Yuan. The trip to the museum will take 40mins to an hour. Entry to the museum is 90 Yuan, though this price may be reduced during low season or when parts of the museum are closed for works.

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