Xi'an - Terracotta Army 西安秦兵马俑

6/23/2014 Xi'an, Terracotta Army (秦兵马俑)

entrance



Aaron:

Terracotta Army in pit 1

soldiers in pit 1

The Terracotta Army is the army that fights for and protect Qin Shi Huang in his afterlife. They are also the guardians of his body. It is a form of funerary art buried with the first emperor of China in 210 BCE.



carving of the Great Wall

statue of horses

We visited the Terracotta Army in the early morning. I was eager to see it. When we arrived, we saw some statues of horses. They were very lifelike. We passed a walkway in the pattern of fish scales and another walkway shaped like a maze. I saw a very detailed carving of the Great Wall. There was a model of the area when we entered the building.

site of the well where Terracotta was first discovered

There are 3 pits: pit 1, pit 2, and pit 3. When we went past a doorway, we saw what pit 1 looked like. My mom and dad told me it is the largest out of the 3 pits. It had thousands of soldiers in it. 1,000 were fixed but most were still broken. There were even horses. There were different ranks in the army. You could tell the difference by what they were wearing. Generals wore peacock feather hats, middle-ranking officers wore their hair in buns, and soldiers wore flat hats.  In 1974, the Terracotta Army was found when a farmer dug a well and found bronze weapons on the bottom. The farmer gave them to the government. The government told archaeologists to dig up the well site and the archaeologists dug up pit 1.

Terracotta soldier pieces in pack with No.

colored Terracotta soldiers in pit 2

There were lots of different shaped tiles. On one half there were the soldiers, but on the other half you could see the archaeologists at work, getting the pieces out and putting them back together. Here are some pictures of the statues before they are 100% finished. The archaeologists work hard to make them look new. When it is finally done, even the cracks have vanished from the warriors. The soldiers are colorful when excavated. But the color decayed within an hour. The modern tech can only preserve part. That’s why we have left lots of warriors still buried underground. In pit 2, some still have a bit of colored soldiers while most don’t. That is the special thing about pit 2.



colored Terracotta soldier and horse
in pit 3 displayed in glass window

Pit 3 has some special things, too. It had a chariot that was buried inside with some alive horses. Another special feature is that it also has warriors with lots of colors. All the warriors were different in some ways. There was even a sculpture of a soldier leading a horse somewhere. There were weapons in there too. We saw one out of the seven generals from the pit 3. There was a sculpture of a person riding a chariot being drawn by the horse.

the farmer who discovered
the Terracotta Army

After seeing the sculptures, we saw the farmer who discovered the Terracotta Army. The Terracotta Army were amazing.

Gordon:

broken piece in pit 1

We went to Terracotta Army at Xi’an in an early morning. In 1974, a farmer was digging up a well. He discovered pieces of the Terracotta Warriors. He was surprised. After he reported to the government, the archaeologists started to dig out the colorful Terracotta Warriors. Today, there are three pits with thousands of Terracotta Warriors and horses being found. They stand in lines. Each warrior is unique, and nobody is the same.  

The Terracotta Warriors were burned in the ancient wars. Lots of black burning marks are still there. A lot of them were broken into pieces. It is sad. Today, archeologists try hard to preserve and protect them from further damage. The Terracotta Warriors were terrific! It is a wonder of the Chinese ancient civilization.

colored Terracotta soldier
in pit 3 displayed inside glass window