The Terracotta Warriors

The Terracotta

Warriors were

first discovered

in 1974 in Xian,

Shaanxi Province

by locals while

digging a water

well 1.5 miles

east of Lishan (a

mountain).

This is one of the four pits that was discovered. Three of

the four pits have figures including 8,000 soldiers, 130

chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses.

The figures vary in height between 6 feet and 6 feet 6 inches.

The height they are shows what their rank was, with the tallest

being the generals. There are different figures including

warriors, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

The Terracotta Warriors were built under the order

of Qin Shi Huang who was the first emperor of China.

It shows how much power he had that he could

command something this huge to be built.

When the

terracotta army

was originally

built the figures

were dressed

with actual

weapons and

armor that had

been used in

battle.

Sometime shortly

after the creation

of the army

though, many of

these weapons

were stolen.

According to the

scribe and historian

Sima Qian, there

was a huge fire

because of a raid on

the tomb by General

Xiang Yu about 5

years after the

Emperor’s death.

Even though most

statues were

damaged, enough

survived that they

were able to be

rebuilt.

If you look at

the different

statues you

will notice

that each one

is different.

Not only are

they different

ranks and in

different

poses, but

even their

faces are

different.

From September 2007 through April 2008 the British Museum in

London had an exhibit with 120 objects from the pits and 20

terracotta warriors. It was their second most popular exhibit ever

after King Tut in 1972.

This is a photo

of the museum

that the

Government of

China built at

the site of the

pits. It is a

very popular

attraction for

anyone visiting

China and for

Chinese people

coming from

other parts of

the country.