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Today I saw the sight that was the main reason why I came to China: the terracotta warriors.
I had heard from others that they were disappointing and so I went with much trepidation.
In fact, I loved them. There are three excavation pits, of which Pit 1 is the main site,
where the pottery pieces have been found and restored (all the figures were broken by
floods, fires or passage of time) and put back in their original formation.
As far as my audioguide was concerned, Emperor Qin (pronounced "chin") was concerned that
after death he would have to face an enemy onslaught in the next life. So, around his tomb
he had constructed everything he would need to protect himself.
Pit 1 is the main entrance and has the full non-mounted army: the short-distance armoured
fighters at the front by the sealed entrance and the ranks of long-distance unarmoured
fighters (mostly archers) at the rear.
Pit 3 contains the cavalry and charriots. All charriots bar 2 were made of wood, so the
structures themselved have long since decayed.
However the terracotta horses and the metal
harnesses remain.
The two non-wood chariots were made entirely of metal (horses and driver included) and are
housed separately. The level of detail on them is extraordinary: the horses' harnesses
contain all the ornamentation and Emperor's symbols that they would have in real life; the
charriot itself is painstakingly contructed in multiple pieces and then all moulded
together. The charriot has a cross bow hook and cross bow and quiver attached, a shield and
a canopy. Apparently all of it - bronze charriots and terracotta warriors, would have been
painted (they have found some remaining traces of colour), so what we see now is but a pale
imitation.
Emperor Qin, as the emperor given credit for uniting what we now know as China, was not
stupid, nor did he neglect strategy, and so in another site (Pit 2) he included an officers'
HQ complete with guards.
The pits themselves are sheltered in an aircraft-hangar type building, and visitors look
down at the pits from ramps round the site, although some pieces are displayed
behind glass
separately so you can get a better look.
There are apparently more than 1,000 figures with more than 100 different faces; so they're
not all unique, but it's still incredibly impressive and you don't feel you're looking at an
army of clones. Much of the more subtle detail had to be pointed out to me (thank you
audioguide), such as the different dress and headgear for the Middle Ranking and Senior
Ranking officers, or the significance of the archers' positions (whether standing or
kneeling).
All the figures came complete with weapons, but all that remains are the metal blades /
arrows etc, and most of the figures as they are now are weaponless). It still looks like an
army, though.
The site takes a while to look round and it was mid-afternoon by the time we got back to
Xi'an. We had a quite (mostly food and drink orientated) evening and then hired bikes and
cycled round the City Walls at dusk.
That was an amazing experience, as the walls were lit up by red lanters,
with each of the
four compass-point gates lit by fairy lights. The walls were almost deserted so we
essentially had them to ourselves and the views were amazing. Great decision - I'd do the
whole day again!
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