Terracotta Army A Millennium-Old Imperial Army Array
Today I have to show you the charm of the Terracotta Army, known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World" – it’s absolutely breathtaking, a trip you’ll never regret!
The Terracotta Army, also called the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Terracotta Army, is located 1.5 kilometers east of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Lintong District, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. It was a funerary pit built for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. Construction began in 246 BC and took 39 years to complete. By then, the Qin State had abolished the practice of human sacrifice, so Qin Shi Huang used terracotta warriors and horses instead of living people for burial. These terracotta figures symbolize his "underground army", as if guarding the emperor’s afterlife.
In March 1974, villagers from Xiyang Village accidentally found fragments of terracotta figures while digging a well, thus uncovering the mysterious veil of the Terracotta Army. Subsequently, archaeologists successively discovered Pit 1, Pit 2, and Pit 3, which opened to the public in batches between 1979 and 1994. To date, about 8,000 terracotta warriors and horses have been unearthed, mainly divided into chariot soldiers, cavalry, and infantry.
The sculptural art of the Terracotta Army is unparalleled. The average height of the terracotta warriors is 1.8 meters, and each has a unique appearance – their costumes, expressions, and hairstyles are all different. Their facial features blend the looks of multiple ethnic groups, making them vivid and lifelike. They were made using a segmented firing process with a kiln temperature controlled between 950°C and 1050°C. Originally, they were painted with lacquer as a base, but most of the colors oxidized and faded after excavation.
