Xi’an Shi

Big ticket item today! We took a taxi about an hour out of Xi'An to see the Terracotta Soldiers. On arriving, we arranged a tour guide as Vela still isn't feeling flash and we wanted to give her a bit of a rest. Our guide Lili was great, very knowledgeable and knew all the best spots to get a good view.

A quick bit of background on the Terracotta Soldiers. They were created to protect the first Emperor of China in the afterlife, and buried underground (inside wooden pavilions) so they could join the emperor whose tomb resides about 1500m away. The first Chinese Emperor, Emperor Qin, lived over 2200 years ago. Although the location of the Emperor's tomb was well known to Chinese historians, the Terracotta Soldiers were lost to history until they were discovered by accident when a group of local farmers were digging a well and stumbled upon the first pit in the 1970s.

Why this particular site? Well apparently it's all about the Feng Shui. This area is at the foot of mountains where gold and silver was found. There are three rivers traversing this area, bringing fortune and wealth. And below there are wide plains.

The first thing that amazed us was the sheer scale of the site. They have excavated three of at least 400 known pits containing the Terracotta Soldiers, unearthing over 8000 individual soldiers. The museum enclosing the first site is basically an oversized aircraft hangar, around 15,000m2 and containing 6000 soldiers. The place was packed with tourists and we had to defend our position from other pushy and impatient patrons.

At one point in history, the pits had been discovered by the rival provinces, and many of the soldiers were smashed and fires set within the chambers. As a result of this, and natural cave-ins/damage, most of the soldiers are found incomplete and have to be painstakingly restored. Originally the archeologists would ensure the Soldiers were restored to perfection, filling in missing pieces, but in order to maintain authenticity they now only restore them the best they can with the pieces they can find.

It was also a little surprising to us that there were horses and chariots amongst the soldiers, and that they were buried in historically accurate battle formations. Every soldier is unique, sporting different facial expressions, hairstyles, clothes and postures. They are all in battle ready poses, holding weapons (the bronze weapons were likely stolen when the pit was raided by rivals).

We got to see the process of restoring the Soldiers, which is ongoing as they continue to excavate more pits. The excavation process has slowed since the initial rush, this is mostly due to the fact that the soldiers were originally painted, and when freshly unearthed the paint is still visible. But within two weeks of being exposed, the paint degrades and the soldiers return to the colour of the base Terracotta. At least 17 different colours were used to paint the soldiers, including purple, for which the pigment was not thought to have been discovered/invented in 200BC.

We then went to view pit #3 (skipping pit #2 for now). This pit is thought to be a command post. It is much smaller than the other two excavated pits with around 60 soldiers. This pit was also significantly deeper with a single entry point, making it a more defensible position. Many of the Soldiers here were wearing ceremonial armour and weapons as well (not stolen as this tomb was never raided), rather than being appropriately geared for battle. However there has been no commander found at this site, so the thinking is that this command post has been set up for Emperor Qin to take command from in the afterlife.

We then moved to pit #2. The first thing notable about pit number two is the mix of troops. With archer formations (at the back for obvious reasons) as well as foot soldiers and cavalry ready to march. The archers were either standing, ready to shoot, or kneeling and reloading. The kneeling archers were particularly well preserved as their low position better protected them from damage over time. Of particular interest was one soldier, known as the lucky soldier, which is the most complete one found, with only his right hand being broken.

The last item from pit #2 was the posters which showed the colours of the freshly excavated Soldiers.

Overall a very neat experience, and we were very glad we got a guided tour. Understanding the history of this place definitely increased our appreciation.Read more