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.