Xian - The Terracotta Warriors of The First Emperor, China | Treasures of The World

A life-size statue of a general of the first Chinese emperor being fired in a kiln. 2,000 years ago, conscript laborers working in countless potters' workshops fashioned the army of Qin Shi Huang Li from clay. The purpose of the warriors was to protect the ruler's soul. The modern-day production of copies, however, has nothing to do with the cult of the dead. It's a distinctly worldly and highly lucrative business for many villages in the region around the emperor's mausoleum. The emperor was afraid of death, so the idea was that in the hereafter, the terracotta soldiers would come to life and fight for him. Rank-and-file soldiers, their long hair hidden under their caps or tied in a knot. Officers and horse-minders marshaled in battle order two millennia ago. Excavation of the terracotta army began in 1974, after a farmer who was digging a well found a soldier's head made of clay. The excavation site near the old imperial city of Xi'an is now a museum which draws millions of tourists every year. Along with the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, the terracotta warriors and horses are China's big attraction. On display here is merely a fraction of what, according to drawings dating back to the 1st century BC, still lies buried in the earth. A palace for the soul with double walls, treasure chambers, ministries, stables and parks. The museum is a copy of one of Qin Shi Huang Di's 270 palaces. He ruled not from one particular throne, but whilst travelling from place to place. Two bronze quadrigus, half life-size, were discovered west of the mausoleum. The first emperor was constantly on the move in his huge empire which had just been unified. After death, too, it was intended the emperor would enjoy travelling in an open carriage for personal pleasure. A closed carriage was designed for longer journeys. Qin Shi Huang Di made constant checks on his project. His was a restless search for the elixir of immortality. He standardised the track width of carriages as well as coinage, weights and measures. He unified the Chinese characters in writing. He had a road network almost 7,000 kilometres long, built for couriers, merchants and his armies. He defeated all his foes, but he could not defeat death. The emperor died while on a tour of inspection. To avoid unrest, his death was kept secret. Until his body was brought to Xi'an in a huge carriage like this. A bronze goose found in a test dig some distance from the mausoleum. At the site, archaeologists discovered dozens of other birds and rare animals next to the bed of a man-made underground stream. This confirms ancient sources which until recently were regarded as fable. 150 years after the emperor's death, the chronicler Sima Qian described the burial complex as follows. All the rivers of the empire were reproduced in quicksilver. The constellations of the heavens could be seen up above and the regions of the earth down below. The Chinese experts restoring the bronze figures are working together with German colleagues from the Roman Germanic Central Museum in Mainz. Newly excavated finds are brought here to be worked on. Every visitor to Xi'an has already seen pictures of the terracotta warriors and knows what to expect. But even so, the sight of the excavation area is simply overwhelming. Qin Shi Huangdi's power base was his army. Arranged in battle order, his soldiers stand in 11 rows each 230 meters long. With his troops, he conquered one kingdom after another, killing 1.4 million enemies on 15 major campaigns. Through his conquests, he established the first unified Chinese empire. And it was only then that he took the name Qin Shi Huangdi, which means the first divine emperor of Qin. The heart of his army were the infantry, all of them conscripted peasants. Even some of the terracotta warriors bear an expression of resentment at being forced into the tyrant's service. The terracotta army is an image of a society in which conformity and rigid rules for working and living were paramount. This warrior has no lance. The terracotta army was originally equipped with real weapons. But a few years after the emperor's death, they were stolen by grave robbers. Whether we're talking about a general or an ordinary soldier, the tidiness of the hair knot, the shape of the beard and the cut of the uniform were all part of a comprehensive order, which according to the will of the emperor would last forever. His order was founded on brutality. According to ancient documents, he had his mausoleum constructed on Li Mountain immediately after ascending the throne. 700,000 castrated or banished criminals are said to have toiled for 12 years to build his capital and his necropolis. Workers and soldiers were organized in groups of five. If one fled, the other four were executed. A perfidious system that exacted courage and obedience. The magical army assembled one and a half kilometers east of the tomb. The necropolis for the emperor's soul lies beneath the broad hill. They filled the burial chamber, it is written, with models of palaces, towers and the hundred offices and with rare treasures. Lamps filled with oil burned constantly. Experts today believe that description, but the task of excavating it all must be left to future generations. A formation of troops that hasn't yet been excavated. The elevated broad wall separating the soldiers and the collapsed ceilings of the passages can be seen quite clearly. All the statues are broken, because shortly after the death of the emperor, grave robbers set fire to the underground wooden galleries. As the passages collapsed, the terracotta army, more than 800 warriors, horses and chariots, was crushed beneath a layer of clay six meters thick. So far, only a fifth of the army has been excavated. The finds are carefully and patiently pieced together again. Originally, all the warriors were decorated in bright colors, but within minutes of the finds being exposed to the air, the layer of paint peeled off. So now, before more soldiers are excavated, Chinese restorers and experts from the State Monuments Office in Munich, Germany, are studying how the original colors of the warriors could best be preserved. We know from inscriptions on the statues that the underground army was created by at least 85 master craftsmen and about a thousand laborers. The heads and bodies conform to eight standard shapes, but each face was always given individual features. The horses, their mouths agape, look as if they're about to break into a gallop. Formed from clay, small, tough and nimble horses are life-size. But the soldiers are between 1 meter 75 and 1 meter 90 tall, somewhat bigger than the average Chinese in those days. They were designed to frighten off enemies through their stature alone. The facial features of the warriors also reflect the fact that the First Chinese Empire was comprised of many different tribes and races. The horses and the soldiers were created true to life. Only if they looked real, it was thought, would they be able to produce their magic and protect the emperor in the hereafter. His megalomania and his dream of immortality claimed thousands of lives. The tyrant was accompanied into death not only by the terracotta soldiers, but also by the officials, servants and craftsmen who were buried alive alongside him. The first emperor wanted the Qin dynasty he founded to rule for 10,000 generations. But shortly after his death, the downtrodden people rose up against his son, laid waste to the capital and disarmed the terracotta army. Today, the descendants of the workers who built the necropolis do good business selling copies of the warriors. Thus, Qin Shi Huangdi is highly thought of by the ordinary people for the first time. Because in Chinese history books, he has always been portrayed as a brutal, greedy and stubborn despot. It was only in the Mao era that he was glorified. Perhaps because Mao restructured China as quickly, brutally and radically as the first emperor. On the souvenir stalls, the founder of imperial China and the father of communist China are now united, serving the people.