Preface
China has had a long history. Qin dynasty existed during 221 BC to 206 BC. It was one of the most important periods in the history of China. Qin dynasty was established by Emperor Qin. Prior to Qin dynasty was a chaotic period known as “Zhan Guo” era, ie. The Battle era. There were then seven states, known respectively as Qi, Chu, Qin, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei. Qin, under the reign of Emperor Qin, gradually defeated and conquered the other six states and eventually unified China in 221 BC. He then named himself as “Shi Huang-Di”, which means “First Emperor”, and that marked the beginning of Qin dynasty.
Since Emperor Qin took over the reign of Qin state in 247 BC, he began building a mausoleum in 246 BC. It took 700,000 workers and craftsmen 38 years to complete the mausoleum. To the east of the mausoleum, 3 terracotta army vaults have been uncovered, covering 20,000 square meters (equivalent to 215,000 square feet). More than 8,000 life-sized terracotta warriors and horses were found, all in their respective formation. Over 10,000 pieces of weapons made of mainly copper were also uncovered, and still many were missing.
The discovering of the mausoleum and terracotta army of the Qin dynasty is a very important archeological discovery. The highly skilled craftmanship of the pottery and weapons are simply magnificent. More archeological excavation is still in progress. We look forward to more findings in the future archeological work.
I. Emperor Qin
Emperor Qin[1] was born in 259 BC. His name was Zheng, last name was Ying[2]. He was born during the chaotic period known as “Zhan Guo” era, ie. The Battle era. Wars were on-going throughout the years among the seven states, namely Qi, Chu, Qin, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei[3]. In 247 BC, Emperor Qin ascended the throne at the age of 13. However, it was his step-father, Lui Bu Wei[4], a merchant-turned-prime minister, together with Emperor Qin’s mother, who administered the state affairs. It was only until 238 BC, when Emperor Qin was 22, that he took back the reign. Within seventeen years, he defeated and conquered all the other six states and eventually unified China in 221 BC, at the age of 39. He then named himself as “Shi Huang-Di”[5], which means “First Emperor”, and that marked the beginning of Qin dynasty[6]. However, Qin dynasty was fairly short-lived. 3 years after Emperor Qin died, Qin dynasty was defeated by General Xiang Yu[7] to become Han dynasty[8] in 206 BC. This made Qin dynasty exist less than twenty years.
After Emperor Qin unified China, he implemented several new policies. He abolished the feudal system and established the centralized state system. He appointed the ministers directly and had all the powers on hand. He also standardized the writings and currencies in this new era. He even standardized the system of weight and measurement, as well as the width of the axles of horse carriages. His contributions also included building a network of roads and highway. The Great Wall of China was also ordered to be built by him. The Great Wall was built to help guard against the northern Tartars. Just like building the mausoleum, thousands of labour bled and died to build this wonder of the world.
To establish his dictatorship, Emperor Qin implemented very cruel laws. He silenced public’s criticism of the imperial rule by burning the books of various schools’ of thinking. He even ordered to bury 460 scholars alive. This is the famous “burning of books and burying of scholars”[9] episode in China’s history. It resulted in a significant loss of Chinese cultures. During his reign, Emperor Qin built many palaces all over the country. His lavish lifestyle consumed huge labour force and caused severe damages to the country’s economy. During the worst time, about 10% of the population were doing all these construction work, leaving behind very few for the agricultural production, greatly affecting the economy of the country in this post-war period.
When Emperor Qin ascended the throne in 247 BC, he began the order to build the mausoleum in Mount Li[10]. Even until his death at 210 BC, the work was not completed. His son spent another two years before this huge project was deemed completed. Within these 38 years, labourers and craftsmen from all over the country were sent over to work on this project, among which most of them were prisoners. They had to move and transport the clay, wood, and other raw materials from hundreds and thousands of miles away. In the process, many lives were shed.
Emperor Qin was afraid of death. He wanted to be long-lived. In order to find the potion to long-life, he travelled around the country several times. Due to overexertion, he died in his fifth trip in search of the potion, at the age of 50 during 210 BC.
Figure 1 Currency of the seven states (top) and the currency used after unification (bottom)
II. Discovery of Terracotta Army[11]
In March, 1974, inside a small village called Xi Yang village, which is located 6km east of Lin Tong County of Xi’An City, Shaan Xi Province[12], a few farmers in their 30s and 40s (Mr Yang Zhi Fa, Yang Quan Yi, Yang Xin Man and Yang Pei Yan[13]) were drilling a well for irrigation. After about 2m deep, they found some pottery fragments. Thinking that they were just normal pots, they continued digging. Soon, fragments of pottery arms, bodies and heads were uncovered. However, these farmers didn’t realize that they had discovered something important. The next day, when they continued with the digging, they found tiles and arrowheads made of copper. Not knowing the historical value of these findings, these farmers took the arrowheads and sold them to the recycling dealers. Fortunately, news was soon spread to Lin Tong Cultural Centre. Team members from the Lin Tong Cultural Centre quickly gathered all the remnants and retrieved back the arrowheads that were sold. Some time after, the Central Government gave an instruction to protect these Qin dynasty’s artefacts. The archeological team from Shaan Xi Province, hence, arrived the site in July, 1974 and commenced their historical exploration, which later became the Eighth Wonder of the World.
Figure 2 Map of China. Xi'An is highlighted in the red box.
Starting from the size of a well, a pit of 230m by 62m was later uncovered, which is now known as Vault 1. This is the largest pit of the three that are uncovered so far. Numerous terracotta soldiers were found. In May, 1976, Vault 2 was discovered. Finally, Vault 3 was discovered in July, 1976. The total surface area of these 3 vaults is about 20,000 square meters, each 5 meters to 7 meters deep.
Figure 3 Location of the mausoleum and terracotta army
From the excavation, a few tombs belonging to the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD, the period after Qin dynasty) were found in Vault 1 and Vault 2. The terracotta warriors were found shifted to make way for these tombs. More tombs belonging to the recent years were unearthed as the archaeological dig proceeds. It is evident that the older generations living in the villages or nearby had seen the terracotta army before. According to the villagers, many of them often heard their elderly telling tales about “clay man” or “monsters” which were the size of a real man. However, no one knows nor understands the importance of what they had found, so the terracotta army had to remain underground for many more years……
The finders of the terracotta army are all in their 70s now. The government understands that they are farmers and illiterate. Henceforth, it specially finds a well known calligrapher to teach them writing. Today, Mr Yang Quan Yi is able to write eight chinese characters, and only these eight characters, which is literally “The finder of the Qin dynasty’s terracotta army, Yang Quan Yi” (秦俑发现人,杨全义). Since the discovery of the terracotta army, Xi’An has been flooded with thousands of visitors every year. It has also attracted national leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zhemin, Zhu Rongji, Li Peng and hundreds of foreign distinguished guests such as Ronald Reagon, Bill Clinton (both former President of United States), Mitterand (former President of France), Queen Elizabeth II, and Lee Kuan Yew (former Prime Minister of Singapore). They even donated generous amount to the preservation of these precious archeological discovery.
Figure 4 Location of well at Vault 1 where the terracotta army was discovered
Figure 5 Tombs belonging to modern times inside the vault
IIA. The Three Vaults
Until today, three vaults are discovered since July 1974, covering a total surface area of 20,000 square meters (215,000 square feet).
Figure 6 Magnified view of the three terracotta army vaults
Vault 1 is the largest of all the three vaults. It is rectangular in shape, 230 meters long, 62 meters wide, covering an area of 14,260 square meters (150,000 square feet). It housed the main force of the army, containing more than 6,000 terracotta soldiers and horses, and over 40 chariots. The soldiers are laid out in a complex formation comprising infantry, archers, cavalry and chariots. Some of them wore heavy protective metallic garment, while some wore light clothings. Some were holding arrows and bows, others were armed with spears and swords. The formation appears to be in a full alert mode, ready to react to any kinds of situation.
Vault 2 is a L-shape structure, 124 meters long, 98 meters wide, covering an area of 6,000 square meters (65,000 square feet). It is 20 meters away from Vault 1, containing 900 terracotta warriors, some 90 wooden chariots and 450 terracotta horses. The army consists of infantry, archers and cavalry, as well as chariots. The archers were divided into standing archers and kneeling archers, all facing east. The standing archers wore light garment while the kneeling archers wore heavy metallic garment. Behind the archers were the cavalry. The cavalrymen had one of their hands gripping the rein while the other holding the bow. In the southern portion of the vault were 64 chariots, lined up in eight rows. Each chariot consisted of 1 charioteer and 2 soldiers armed with spears. To the north of the chariot formation was a team of mixed formation consisting of infantry, cavalry and chariots. Thus, within Vault 2, there are four different types of formation which makes it a very versatile troop. In fact, this is a very advanced battle formation in 2,200 years ago.
Vault 3 is a U-shape structure, covering an area of 400 square meters (4,300 square feet), which is the smallest of the three vaults. It is 25 meters away from Vault 1, 120 meters away from Vault 2. About 66 terracotta soldiers and 1 chariot which was drawn by 4 terracotta horses were unearthed here. Although small with only a few figures, it is an important discovery. The building structure is more complex than the other two vaults. The terracotta soldiers were not laid out in a battle formation. Instead, they were facing one another, suggesting that they were guards. Most of these soldiers were armed with long weapons without blade, which is believed to be used only by the guard-of-honour. The chariot was driven by a charioteer, guarded by 2 soldiers, and had a drummer with a drum on it. All these showed that Vault 3 is not a normal combat battalion. It is believed that this vault is the command post of the whole terracotta army. The highest ranking commanding officer is not found inside Vault 3, which means that Emperor Qin had not appointed the commanding officer yet.
Figure 7 Vault 1
III. The Terracotta Army and Weapons
The terracotta army reflected the extraordinary craftsmanship during the Qin dynasty. None of the terracotta soldiers is the same. Each of them has a different facial expression, hairstyle, moustache, eyebrow and even wrinkles. There are evidence that a large fire occurred not long after the completion of the mausoleum. According to some historical records, there existed looting of the tomb as well. Fortunately, the terracotta army survived these destruction, and so did many other precious artefacts.
The terracotta army are so real. The soldiers’ height vary between 1.8 meters to 2.0 meters. The horses are 2.0 meters long, standing 1.7 meters tall, all of them are well-bred. Upon detailed observation, one could notice the different types of garment that the soldiers were wearing, the different hairstyle and moustache, and even the wrinkles on the faces of higher ranking officer. Some soldiers had thick eyebrows, some were smiling, some had round face, some were looking down. In short, no two figures are the same within these 8000 pieces of exquisite artwork. From the little remaining colour found on the pottery, it showed that before they were being buried and burnt during the war two thousand years ago, they were a colourful group of masterpiece.
Figure 8 Terracotta infantry
Figure 9 Terracotta soldiers and horses
Figure 10 Side view of terracotta soldiers
Figure 11 Terracotta horses
The weapons that were uncovered were all life-sized real weapons made of metals. There were about 10,000 weapons found and can be broadly classified into three main categories: short weapons, long weapons and long range weapons. Short weapons refer to daggers, swords and crescent-shaped hooks. Long weapons are weapons like spears and spears with hook. Long range weapons include crossbows, bows and arrows. Although these weapons have been buried for more than two thousand years, many of them were still sharp and shiny, mainly due to the anti-rust property of a layer of dense chromium plating. This reflected the superb technology during the Qin dynasty. Most of the weapons were casted from copper, tin and several other elements such as nickel, magnesium and cobalt. For example, the bronze swords have 21.3% of tin, higher than other bronze weapons unearthed. This higher tin content increased the hardness of the sword. In the chemical analysis of the arrowheads, 7.7% were found to be lead. This is the most poisonous weapon in the world.
Figure 12 Imitation of olden days weapons
IV. Acknowledgements
Thanks to the many books and websites available to make this writing possible.
Many more pictures and information are available through the internet.
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