Inside the 2,000-Year-old Mystery of China’s Terracotta Army's Tomb

He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior. A ruthless leader unifies warring kingdoms, creating an empire built to last a thousand years. He rules with unparalleled cruelty, surviving assassination attempts and palace treachery. And he builds an astonishing archaeological treasure in a relentless quest for immortality. Now, cutting-edge research and dramatic new discoveries reveal tales of conspiracy, betrayal, murder and vengeance. China's First Emperor. Next on Empire Games. The Chinese Empire. It is considered the oldest living civilization in human history. But its ancient origins are not entirely clear. The beginnings of Chinese civilization, and particularly the beginnings of the Chinese Empire, are somewhat in the dark. The traditional Chinese writings that we have state that the Chinese Empire began at about 2000 BC with the first dynasty, the Xia Dynasty. The Xia formed a government and then adheres to a policy of family succession for its leaders. So for that reason, it is considered the first dynasty of China. But very little is known about the Xia. There are no archaeological findings or evidence on this dynasty, so we have to depend on assumption. Some scholars even claim the dynasty is actually a myth. A great Chinese legend tells of an heroic figure who is largely responsible for forming the Xia Dynasty. He is known as Yu the Great. Around 2000 BCE, the Yellow River floods, ripping a devastating path through the various clans that live along its banks. A local leader orders an engineer named Gun to design a system to prevent flooding. He tries a network of dams, but these are no match for the raging waters. Gun is executed for his failure. Then his son Yu takes on the life and death challenge to tame the river. He vows to his wife that he will not return home until he achieves his goal. Yu surveys the entire length of the huge waterway, some 3,000 miles, and develops a radical plan. Instead of dams, he decides to divide the river by cutting a vast network of irrigation channels. Yu knows he'll need to enlist thousands of workers to carry out his bold plan. He must convince rival clans to set aside generations of differences and join the construction team. He succeeds, and Yu launches his massive project. Over the next 10 years, the building continues. It is said that Yu passes his house three times, but he will not even visit his family. His task is not yet done. Finally, after 13 arduous years, the giant network of channels is complete. Has he achieved an engineering marvel, or is his plan also doomed to failure? New storms hit the region, and Yu's handiwork is put to the test. The floodwaters are controlled. Yu's masterpiece is a glorious success. Yu has saved the people, and his achievements unite the various clans into China's first dynasty, the Cha. The story of Yu the Great is a powerful and enduring legend, but still no hard evidence exists. However, there is archaeological evidence of the Shang Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty dates from around 1600 BC to 1100 BC, and the first records we have are from the Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty was essentially already a highly developed civilization. They had the first written characters. We know that they were using oracle bones to predict the future. And this is followed by the Zhou Dynasty, which is the dynasty that stretches from about 1100 BC to about 200 BC. The Zhou Dynasty is already a very developed dynasty, with clear political structures of a great civilization and culture. So this would essentially be the beginnings of Chinese civilization. During these times, there are great advances in everything from military technology to philosophical thought, creating dramatic changes in the way wars are fought and the way lives are led. A legendary thinker is born in this era. His name is Confucius. Confucius was probably the most famous scholar in Chinese history. He lived from 551 to 479 before our era. And he was born into a family that came from the old Shang Dynasty heritage. This is a tumultuous time when war and chaos are always close at hand. Confucius works briefly as a magistrate in the court of the Duke of Lu in eastern China. During his tenure, he feels that the traditional standards of good behavior, discipline, and respect are deteriorating. He watches the duke neglect his duties while spending most of his time cavorting with beautiful courtesans. Confucius tries in vain to reform the government. Confucius had a mission. He never intended to really create a new religion. He wanted to reform what had already been there. He thought that if the people would stop abusing etiquette and ritual, that those times of war would end. If people would just act correctly, their mind would also become correct. And he was of the opinion that everyone, no matter of his class and no matter of his educational level, could become a junzi, a virtuous one. Righteous and virtuous ruler would just by example of living correctly according to the rituals, convert his people to becoming good people. His aim was to create more wisdom in the people because wisdom was the root of peace and harmony. And to achieve wisdom, people had to be rational and humane and righteous. The superior man thinks always of virtue. The common man thinks of comfort. Confucius leaves the court and sets out in search of a virtuous ruler. For roughly 13 years, he had to leave his home state and travel through all the states of his era, living really extremely poor with just all those young men following him and writing down his words. And during his lifetime, he was never really cherished. He was never famous, never really venerated for what he did. It all came after his death. Confucius lives to be 72 years old, but he never finds a ruler who lived up to his high ideals. When he dies, he feels he has failed in his life's mission. But his followers pass down his teachings for generations to come. They became officials, they influenced the state, they founded schools, they really actively spread what he was thinking. Because it was new, everyone wanted peace and people wanted to jump classes. So his idea was really to teach goodness and humanness through all classes, through all social strata. In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of. The students of Confucius write down his teachings in a book called The Analects. His philosophies continue to influence China to this day. While Confucius impacts philosophy, another great thinker changes the face of warfare. His name is Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu was one of the first of a very special school of scholars, the so-called Bingzha, the scholars of war. And they wrote the Bingzha, the art of war. So there's not only Sun Tzu's art of war, but there are a lot of art of wars. At this point, they were a group of mostly philosophers who all came from a military background. And they started thinking about what is the nature of war, which are the best tactics, which rules should we adhere to, and which rules could we bend. It has chapters regarding, of course, tactics, also psychology, economy, and statecraft was also very important. The scholars of war accepted war as a necessity, but they didn't ask for it. Sun Tzu's most interesting chapter, which is nowadays also used in business, is the 13th chapter, Yojen, about intelligence and espionage. Sun Tzu said that the wise king would use intelligence to really gather information about his enemy and defeat him more quickly and move troops more efficiently. The teachings of the art of war are critical in these times. 481 BCE begins a time called the Warring States Period. The Chinese kingdom has now shattered into small states. We now have the process of the great uniform empire transforming into different single small principalities and kingdoms. And these princes and kings are at constant war with each other. That is why the time, which in China is also called the Warring States Period, is the time which is marked by continuous conflict between the individual princes, so to speak. So the situation we have in China at that time is that the Zhou dynasty is in a time of decline from the unified state into individual principalities and kingdoms. The princes that ruled these states become military generals leading well-armed troops. The princes have developed into military leaders. They had to in order to survive. And it was therefore very important that they developed large armies. These armies were hundreds of thousands of soldiers. And where did the soldiers come from? They were essentially forced into military service. Everyone who lived within the territory of a feudal lord owed the feudal lord military service, which was to be served for several years. And through these methods, through this kind of organization of society, the military princes have, so to speak, succeeded in setting up large armies that carried out the military campaign. Advances in iron technology lead to the development of deadly new weapons. This was a very important development in time. A lot of weapons were developed, basically. This is true for swords made of iron, but also for crossbows, other shooting weapons, axes, bladed and stabbing weapons. They are all made of iron. They were all very systematically developed and refined. And there was also weapon technological development in the field of armor, which is also applied to vehicles. Large war chariots were developed, which were very well armed. The war changed in two ways. First, we have the material enhancements, but there was also an ideological change. So before, war was a matter of the ruling class and their warriors, and battles were fast, hard and quickly over. That changed. Now we are entering the stage of tactical wars. That means campaigns were a lot longer and there was a lot of besiegement. And of course, because of the besieges, the civil society suffered a lot. The war also became a lot more cruel. There were more victims because those rulers with their tiny, tiny kingdoms were afraid that their people would commit treason to other rulers, which were really close. So if someone was suspicious, they would just kill the entire village. Among the rulers, skulls were collected like trophies. So in the sources, we can always read that skulls upon skulls were put on pillages. And we also read that the sieges sometimes were held so long that parents started to eat their children. And you don't have to doubt that that is only a metaphor. The Warring States period continues for over 200 years. Early on, there were over 100 warring kingdoms. They eventually conquer each other and become larger territories. In the end of the Warring States, we are left with seven states. Those are Zhao and Yan in the north, Wei and Han in the center, Qi in the east, Zhu in the south, and Qin in the very far west. Few take the Qin state seriously. They are viewed as uncouth barbarians. They seem to have little interest in the virtuous ideals of Confucius and certainly not a people to be feared. But underestimating the Qin turns out to be a fatal error. In the year 259 BCE, a concubine of the Qin king gives birth to a son. He is named Shang, meaning upright or correct. Just 13 years later, the king dies, making the young boy the ruler. Despite the king's young age, the armies of the Qin set out to conquer the other six states. The Qin emperor had an ambition. He wanted to defeat the other states. And he does it in a more systematic manner than the other military leaders. So he is interested in creating a single central empire. And he also speaks of his goal. He says, I will create an emperor line which will last 10,000 generations. The very last kingdom that was conquered was Qi. And it is a direct result of the influence of Sun Tzu on the Qin ruler because he used intelligence. In a matter of roughly 15 years, he was able to conquer all of the realm left. And in 221, he was the master of all and gave himself a completely new title. The earliest rulers of the Shang and the Zhou were just called Wang, king. And he said, it isn't enough for me. I am more special than everyone else. So he said, Huangdi is my new title. And we commonly translate that as emperor. And shi means first. So he literally called himself first emperor of the Qin. Shi Huangdi makes it clear he will rule with absolute authority and installs a system of legalism. What is legalism? Legalism thinks that humans have to be controlled by laws and rewards and punishments so that they behave as good humans and keep up the harmony in the state. He spoke in modern terms. He was certainly a dictator. The legalist system really supported a strict and cruel orthocratic system which we compare to dictatorship. The entire state was focused on his person. So of course, a certain personality cult developed. He wasn't venerated like a god, but he saw himself over the local deities. So he was somewhere in between. Not in the heavens, but above common deities. So he was something special. Under the first emperor, breaking the law comes with brutal, almost inhumane punishments. Decapitation is commonplace. Such punishments were used very often. For example, the cutting the criminal into two or four parts. We also need to understand that the criminal system of that time was really literal. We know this principle, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If a person stole anything, his or her arms were cut off. If a person tried to flee because he had not done his duty, then his legs were cut off. And this was treated as a punishment, the amputation of body parts. Generally speaking, there was a special kind of punishment that was very common for most of Chinese history, which meant that if somebody was accused of treason, they would be executed, but also three generations of their family. That means their children, they are the same generation and the generation of their parents. Also, under this rigid system, the virtuous principles set forth by Confucius are totally discarded. The most important idea is that if the country is ruled by a virtuous ruler, automatically the people will also be virtuous. That's the most important. And another important idea is that the father is always most important, the family is most important, even before the state. What happens if my father steals a sheep? Should I tell it to the magistrate or not? And Confucius answered, since the relation of the father to son is more important than of the ruler to the subject, you should never tell on your father committing a crime because you would commit a crime against your own family. And in the legalist, it was completely different. They said the state is above all. And Shang Yang introduced a law that said, if you hide that someone committed a crime, you will be punished with the same punishment as the one who has actually committed the crime. Teaching Confucianism is outlawed and penalties are harsh. Throughout the empire, any form of dissenting views are crushed. Books about politics and history are banned by order of the emperor's chancellor, Li Si. Li Si was afraid that if people read narrations of the past, that they could think the past was better than his absolutely superior system that he had introduced. So of course it was his opinion that it was a superior system and he didn't want the people to be nostalgic for all the times. So the historical scriptures had to go. Throughout the reign of Shi Huangdi, there were several assassination attempts that were thwarted. There were a total of three attempts of his assassination. The assassination attempts were carried out by various people, former princes and opponents. That is why he was deeply afraid of being killed. Once, one tried to shoot him with an arrow and a bow. Then one tried to poison him, which was repeated several times. One assassin, Zhao Jianli, is a famous lute player who is one of the emperor's favorite musicians. It turns out he is a friend and an earlier assassin and at the last moment, the king is warned of the plot. You have to be careful. He wants to kill you too and he just said, okay, I can't kill his talent. He's too good at playing music. So he had his eyes taken out and blinded. He let him quite close to him because he favored his music. However, Zhao Jianli had enhanced his lute with lead and tried to smack down the king himself. Didn't work so well and he was later also executed. The first emperor becomes obsessed with a fear of dying and goes to Great Lakes to avoid it forever. He embarks on a fanatical quest for immortality. The first emperor of China becomes obsessed with protecting his kingdom and even more so his personal safety. He launches an ambitious building project to protect his northern border. A 1,500 mile long Great Wall of China. There's a common misconception that there is one Great Wall in China and that is really not true. There are several Chinese walls usually against invaders and they have been all over the place. First, he ordered after he became emperor to take down the walls between Yan and Qi and Zhao because they would have divided his empire. But then afterwards, he ordered to build a new wall in the north against the Xiongnu. Xiongnu were riding nomadic people from northern Asia. On those walls, usually they had guards and a very effective system of lighting fires. So if somewhere in the far east of the wall someone light a fire, you would have a chain of fires lightened until the messenger to the capital would see it and write to the capital and give announcements that the enemy was coming. Xi Wangbi has little trouble enlisting workers for his project. At that time, all the workers were forced laborers. The Qin Dynasty is a dynasty with very strict laws, a lot of punishments and as a result, one of the penalties imposed is the forced labor. The people who are condemned to forced labor even for 5, 10 or 20 years carry out these huge construction projects. We know from the records, in part, there were 700,000 workers who worked at different construction sites. Many of them were forced laborers but also, of course, craftsmen, volunteers who were employed, also farmers. Every farmer had to provide military service but also to provide labor services to the emperor. Architects usually were killed because the emperors didn't want architects to tell their secrets of how to build the wall, where are the secret doors. I also have no idea how anyone wanted to be an architect in that time. As the years go by, the emperor becomes more and more obsessed with protection from death and explores many ways to achieve immortality. So it was clear for the first emperor, after he had reconciled the empire and become the great emperor, that he had to prolong his life. He was obsessed with the idea of life after his death. He sent people, officials, military to all corners of China in search of an elixir. He also wanted to be closer to Taoist priests, to shamans, to fortune tellers, to people fond of elixirs, seeking a formula that would allow him to prolong his life. And that was a very great concern to him. He wanted to create the eternal kingdom and strove for eternal life. He surrounds himself with people who assure him his dream is possible. But ultimately, he accepts the inevitable and moves towards methods to reach immortality in the afterlife. He makes his construction crew build one of the most astounding sites in the history of mankind. In March 1974, a farmer is digging a well when he happens to be in the middle of a drought. He happens upon an archaeological find that stuns the world. It's a site thought only to exist as the stuff of legends. The astonishing tomb of Shai Huangdi, the first emperor of China. An army of 8,000 full-sized terracotta warriors guard a vast man-made mountain more massive than the pyramids of Egypt. The tomb is extremely large and contains basically everything an emperor would need. So there is this large army. There are pets, 300 live horses and some artificial ones. Actually functional chariots, the modern and biggest chariots of that time, maybe even invented for this tomb, with real hay for their horses. A lot of bronze vessels, jewelry, money, servants, entertainers. There is a whole artificial river landscape in one of the pits. And there is an audience hall containing the crown, the imperial clothing. There's also the living quarter hall with servants and officials. The most famous thing is, of course, the terracotta army, which is so special because nobody knew about it. That's why it was famous in the 70s. No historical record is mentioning the terracotta army. The reason is probably, as ramps and similar devices have been excavated, that the army was put into ground one by one and nobody of the ancient time has ever seen the entire army. So people didn't know that those single statues would lead to this impressive site. The army consists of three to four pits. The first pit is a complete battle-ready army with a front, a main army, and the flanks. Then in the second pit, we have infantry, cavalry, and archers. And the third pit is the commando group. The soldiers come in eight body types, are lifelike and some things are enhanced, like the cheekbones or the beard. And most importantly, they wear arms completely colorful. They wear colorful when they were excavated. But in the moment that the tomb was opened, the color in contact with air fall apart. And now we have only pigments to work with. The weapons they have are original. They have producer names and serial numbers to guarantee their quality. And this is all very special because normally if some people sacrifice things for the afterlife or for the deities, they destroy them. So they can't be used in this life. This didn't happen here. So we have some things that can't be used because they are just models, but some things are life-sized and most things are functional. In 1974, the tomb of the first emperor was found, revealing one of the most incredible archaeological sites in history. Of course, all this begs the question, what does it mean? Why did he have this large army? What was he hiding from? People are sometimes asking, was he afraid? Because he was always so paranoid and he was afraid of death. But we have to remember that in China, ancient China, there was no hell. So he wasn't really afraid of death. The afterlife in ancient China was a mirror of this life. And so everything you have in this life, everything you take to the grave, you will have when you are dead in the afterlife. So maybe his imagination of paradise was to conquer all of afterlife as well. Another fascinating aspect of the tombs is that there were many people who followed their emperor to the tomb grave. As in the other Chinese dynasties, the emperor had the principal wife, but also many other women and concubines. For example, from what we know, the first emperor had so-called women's chambers in his palace. Almost 120 women lived there. The women were very important because it was important to ensure that there were enough heirs and that he had enough sons to hold the important positions in the empire. That was always the reason why there were many women there. Beautiful concubines would dance for the emperor's delight, accompanied by musicians from all over China. The emperor surrounded himself with beautiful women from the far corners of his empire. So the morality or the ethical behavior in the imperial palace was up to the emperor. The emperor had basically few restrictions. There was already the idea of marriage, but there was now the idea of marital fidelity, which was essentially only related to women. The women, so to speak, had to remain faithful to the emperor because the emperor had the responsibility to have as many women as possible. One can say that everything was oriented to the emperor, his desires, his wishes, his needs. And what was good for the emperor and used by him was always morally accepted. The children of concubines were predestined to go into the state service and take over important roles in the state. But we can say for certainty that the children who, for example, were from the maid or the side women were also able to raise a claim to the throne afterwards. Now, however, there was a clear hierarchy. The principal woman was the wife, truly the empress who, so to speak, was equal to the emperor. Her children were superior to children of the secondary women, as well as children of concubines who were not equal and had lesser right to the throne claim. Therefore, one can imagine that there were many conflicts. Maids and concubines always had to contend for the emperor's favor. The concubines who had no sons were the worst, and they were also killed when the emperor died and were buried with him in the imperial tomb. During the Qin Dynasty, people still followed into the grave. So not only his concubines, but also some servants and officials were pressured into following him into the grave. That was, of course, a big problem, but it was a tradition from ancient. So he just took it up again. We know that when the emperor died, all his women went with him into the grave. It was considered as a single family, and we must understand that women accepted it and went willingly to death. The idea was not that they had to die, but that they continued to live with the emperor in the afterlife. This was not the idea that there was nothing left. The idea was that concubines, mistresses would have an equally good life with the emperor in the afterlife. In 210 BCE, the Chinese empire appears to be thriving under the first emperor's rule. Then disaster strikes. On a tour of the east of his empire, Shai Huangdi suddenly falls mysteriously ill and quickly passes away. He actually died a rather normal death. The first emperor, who was so afraid to be killed, was simply on one of his voyages near the Pacific. One morning he felt sick and then basically fainted, and that was it. He had this great ambition and wanted to defeat the other states and establish a new united empire, and he did it. He created it when he was in his mid-30s and was then emperor for about 15 years until he died at age 49. The first emperor is placed in his great tomb built to defeat the undefeatable. As for the empire itself, ultimately it proves to be very fragile. His dynasty collapses within five years of his death. The emperor's reforms had brought widespread poverty and famine, and the troubles are viewed as a sign that heaven had withdrawn its mandate. So when his empire fell, no one was surprised. There were succession problems immediately. Basically nobody could replace the first emperor. His favorite son started arguing with his oldest son. There was an internal fight over it. The unity of the empire broke up, which was then used by rebels to rebel against the emperor and the Qin dynasty. Legend says the rebels stole weapons from the terracotta warriors to arm their revolution. It's a seed grown from a broken dream because Qin Zhuangdi dreamed of unifying the realm and of establishing a dynasty that would have lasted in his mind forever with however many qi shi and ba shi and the 9th or 10th or 11th emperors of the Qin. It never happened. Descendants didn't really rule long, so the dynasty was extremely short. And later his heritage was defiled. In Chinese history, he isn't as important because for the Chinese culture, Han dynasty was more important. And people, especially the Confucians, were not happy about that Qin episode. And yet the Qin dynasty brought to China everything it needed to grow into the world power that it was for several centuries. And so in the Qin dynasty, although Qin Zhuang's dream broke and failed, it was a seed to grow that grand flower of China. Today, the emperor's tomb is being excavated, but the burial chamber still has not been opened. And no one really knows why. Some archaeologists say it's because they wanted to be certain that technology is ready to be able to preserve what they find. It's immensely big and we will have decades to excavate everything. For now, we have roughly a quarter. And the most fascinating about the entire issue is, of course, the real inner tomb is sealed by the government. The government does not want to open it. And this has led to quite a lot of imagination and fiction and movies. As no one could know what to expect, they didn't want to destroy anything. So the graves are still closed to this day and archaeological evidence is still missing. There are a lot of ideas. First, they are thinking that maybe there is a curse. They don't want to disturb the Qing ruler. And on the other hand, they are afraid of their own legitimation because the Communist Party says they are continuing the righteous rulership. So they do not want to disturb this tomb. Others say that maybe the tomb is already plundered and empty and they just want to cover it up. So there are a lot of ideas about it, but nobody really knows. Shai Wangdi sets out to create an empire that would last a thousand years and achieve immortality for himself. Although his dream of eternal life was never realized, the artifacts and ideas of his time live on today. With all the breathtaking wonders of ancient China that remain standing, few can match the astounding tomb and the vast army of guardians of the first emperor. After Shai Wangdi's death, the disciples of Confucius resurrected the great teacher's writings and his philosophies endure in numerous cultures around the world. The next empires of ancient China flourished, bringing remarkable inventions and technological breakthroughs. Paper, printing, the compass are just a small sample of the achievements of the world's oldest civilizations. It all harkens back to the legacy of the Qin Dynasty, protected by its great wall and soaked in the tears and blood of its subjects, living under one tyrant and his empire games.