The Terracotta Army is one of the major tourist attractions in modern China. It is one of the largest and most elaborate burial sites ever found. Amazingly the whole thing was discovered by accident as archeologists and historians had no idea that it existed. Even today the full extent of the site is not known. It is definitely on the list of things that you must see if you visit China.
The Terracotta Army is a collection of funerary art for the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang. It was created in the early third century BC in order to protect the emperor in the after life. It is estimated that there are about eight thousand soldiers in his army along with about five hundred horses and more than a hundred chariots. However not all of the pits at the site have yet been excavated so the actual numbers are still unknown. In addition to the soldiers of the terracotta army there are figures of officials, musicians and acrobats at the site.
The Terracotta Army was discovered by accident in 1974 when a group of farmers were digging a well. The area was long known to be the emperors tomb but archeologists had no idea how far it extended. The terracotta figures were discovered just over a mile from the actual tomb. There may actually be far more to the site than has yet been discovered. In writing about the emperors tomb contemporaries talked about a navy and mercury being used to simulate water. There is still a huge part of the site that needs to be excavated so whether this is true or not remains to be seen. However scientific studies have shown the ground to have high levels of mercury so the possibility does exist.
The soldiers of the terracotta army were constructed by highly skilled craftsmen who went to the trouble to give each of the soldiers different facial features. There seem to have been eight basic molds for the faces and then each was altered slightly to make it unique. The soldiers in the tomb were well equipped with each having armor and carrying a sword like they would on a real battlefield. There were a wide number of other artifacts found in the tomb as well.
The Terracotta Army is located in Xian in Shaanxi province. The city has long been a popular tourist destination but this has become even more the case with the discovery of the terracotta figures. Needless to say the site is crowded at almost all times so you will need to be prepared to stand in line if you want to see it. Weekends are best avoided as this is the most crowded time by far. Getting to the site is easy, there is plenty of transportation to and from.
