in 1974 the fertile grounds of Xian
China yielded a spectacular secret
buried in the soil farmers found a
beautifully sculpted head one by one
soldiers emerged until an entire clay
army was unearthed each individual
painstakingly handcrafted and ready for
battle it’s a military force of
thousands created to escort the founding
father of the Chinese Empire into
eternity chinchou Huangdi came into
power in 246 BC when he was just 13
years old Qin spent most of his ruling
years at war uniting much of what is now
China he standardized writing currency
weights and measures and even built a
series of highways and he commissioned
the first version of the Great Wall
despite Chin’s enormous achievements he
wanted more he wanted immortality
he began building a second empire one
that would accompany him into the
afterlife it would become one of the
largest mausoleums on earth more than
seven thousand warriors archers cavalry
charioteers and foot soldiers guard his
– chin envisioned his life after death
to include civilians as well government
officials to serve him acrobats dancers
singers animals and even a strongman to
entertain him it took over 36 years and
a workforce of 700 thousand conscripted
workers to complete chins Terracotta
Army and court workers accomplished the
enormous task by dividing up the labor
in assembly line fashion and yet no two
statues are the same each depicts an
individual with its own hairstyle facial
expression and painted details
the Warriors craftsmanship and style
astonishes scholars why would an emperor
want each of his troops to be unique
perhaps for chin beauty and
individualism were is important as
compliance in uniformity
we can only speculate based on the
contents of the mausoleum for chin left
no records of this grand creation
records from the next dynasty indicate
that chin was not a popular ruler he
massacred the armies of six states had
hundreds of thousands of people punished
through forced labor subjected his
people to high taxation and showed
little tolerance for dissent chin
outlived numerous assassination attempts
and was quite paranoid about revolution
he may have thought these threats would
follow him into the afterlife the army
faces east toward States Qin conquered
during his lifetime as if he anticipated
vengeful troops coming over the horizon
in fact his own Warriors may have armed
the revolt that did come after his death
peasant snatched the metal swords from
the clay soldiers grasp and overthrew
Qin successors but despite looting fires
and the passage of time
Jin’s army survived into the modern
world
a group of chins clay figures is now on
tour it will be on display at the
National Geographic Museum in Washington
DC in November 2000
you
China yielded a spectacular secret
buried in the soil farmers found a
beautifully sculpted head one by one
soldiers emerged until an entire clay
army was unearthed each individual
painstakingly handcrafted and ready for
battle it’s a military force of
thousands created to escort the founding
father of the Chinese Empire into
eternity chinchou Huangdi came into
power in 246 BC when he was just 13
years old Qin spent most of his ruling
years at war uniting much of what is now
China he standardized writing currency
weights and measures and even built a
series of highways and he commissioned
the first version of the Great Wall
despite Chin’s enormous achievements he
wanted more he wanted immortality
he began building a second empire one
that would accompany him into the
afterlife it would become one of the
largest mausoleums on earth more than
seven thousand warriors archers cavalry
charioteers and foot soldiers guard his
– chin envisioned his life after death
to include civilians as well government
officials to serve him acrobats dancers
singers animals and even a strongman to
entertain him it took over 36 years and
a workforce of 700 thousand conscripted
workers to complete chins Terracotta
Army and court workers accomplished the
enormous task by dividing up the labor
in assembly line fashion and yet no two
statues are the same each depicts an
individual with its own hairstyle facial
expression and painted details
the Warriors craftsmanship and style
astonishes scholars why would an emperor
want each of his troops to be unique
perhaps for chin beauty and
individualism were is important as
compliance in uniformity
we can only speculate based on the
contents of the mausoleum for chin left
no records of this grand creation
records from the next dynasty indicate
that chin was not a popular ruler he
massacred the armies of six states had
hundreds of thousands of people punished
through forced labor subjected his
people to high taxation and showed
little tolerance for dissent chin
outlived numerous assassination attempts
and was quite paranoid about revolution
he may have thought these threats would
follow him into the afterlife the army
faces east toward States Qin conquered
during his lifetime as if he anticipated
vengeful troops coming over the horizon
in fact his own Warriors may have armed
the revolt that did come after his death
peasant snatched the metal swords from
the clay soldiers grasp and overthrew
Qin successors but despite looting fires
and the passage of time
Jin’s army survived into the modern
world
a group of chins clay figures is now on
tour it will be on display at the
National Geographic Museum in Washington
DC in November 2000
you
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