Why did the Chinese build the Terracotta Army?
The Terracotta Army, a collection of over 6,000 life-size terracotta statues of soldiers and horses, discovered in March 1974 at Qin, near the modern city of Xi’an (that was the former Chang’an (“Eternal Peace”), previously the ancient capital of the Qin Dynasty), in China. Farmers drilling a well found a subterranean chamber containing terracotta statues. Further investigation subsequently revealed the amazing scale of the discovery. The figures, facing east, ready for battle, were individually modelled, probably as portraits of real people, and they were accompanied by real chariots, bronze and leather bridles, and objects of jade and bone. Their weapons included bows, arrows, spears, and swords, many made from an unusual alloy that was still bright and sharp when found. The Terracotta Army has been identified as part of the burial of Shi Huangdi, the first Qin emperor of China, who began the construction of the Great Wall of China. The tomb was built around 2,100 years ago, and the
An Army of Terracotta for the Afterlife The exquisite terracotta army of the first Qin Dynasty ruler Shihuangdi represents the emperor’s ability to control the resources of the newly unified China, and his attempt to recreate and maintain that empire in the afterlife. The first emperor of all China was a fellow named Ying Zheng, born in 260 BC during the “Warring States Period”, a chaotic, fierce, and dangerous time in Chinese history. He was a member of the Qin dynasty, and ascended to the throne in 247 BC at the age of twelve and a half. In 221 BC King Zheng united all of what is now China and renamed himself Qin Shihuangdi (“First Emperor of Qin”), although ‘united’ is rather a tranquil word to be using for the bloody conquest of the region’s small polities.
