2014 marks the fortieth anniversary since, a local farmer digging a well outside Xian China, struck upon one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the world; a clay man-made life-sized soldier in full military uniform poised for battle.
The subsequent escavations revealed thousands of clay soldiers in underground corridors in a vast area, which is now known as the Terracotta Army, the guards to China’s first emperor’s mausoleum for his afterlife.
What we have seen so far today is merely a fraction of the Qin Emperor’s tomb. The emperor started the construction of his tomb when he first took the throne in 246 B.C. at the age of 13. The project lasted for 38 years with 700,000 labourers working on site at any one time. With the modern remote sensing equipment, archaeologists have discovered an underground palace, which is 35 meters below the ground at the back of the terracotta army. The palace is 170 meters long from east to west, and 145 meters wide from south to north in a rectangular shape. In the middle of the palace is the burial chamber, which is the size of a standard football pitch and is 15 meters above the rest of the palace. The palace is secured by a surrounding wall with a height of 33 meters and a width of 16 to 22 meters. The mausoleum also recreated the territory under Qin emperor’s rule by replicating the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea at the southeast part of the underground complex in enormous man-made lakes of mercury. The vapour from the mercury helped to prolong the emperor’s body from decomposing as well as preventing all the treasures in the underground palace from natural erosion. The high concentration of mercury was also lethal to any possible tomb raiders or robbers. The fact the underground mausoleum survived for over two thousand years without any damage is a clear testimony to the design.
The archaeologists also discovered that the Qin Emperor’s tomb has no sign of water penetration and there is no internal collapse among all the chamber walls since its construction over two thousand years ago. This is largely the result of an enormous underground deep-rooted dam or wall built outside of the palace, which effectively cuts off the penetration of underground water to the mausoleum. A massive walled city was also constructed over the ground, which was bigger in size than the one underground, for the purpose of annual rituals of remembrance.
The Qin Emperor died and was buried before the mausoleum was fully completed. His son succeeded him and had hardly finished the project when the peasants uprising and rebellions overthrew his rule. The rebel leader sent 300,000 troops to the mausoleum and tried in vain to dig the Qin Emperor out. In rage, his troops torched the over-ground city of the mausoleum, which resulted in some parts of the terracotta army being seriously burnt and damaged, as we can see today.
James Zhang, MD of China Tours Ltd commented: “Travel to China to see the terracotta army is an important part of our China tour packages such as “China Glimpse”. The 2000-year old army of terracotta warriors is a fascinating record of artistic achievement by ancient Chinese and a grandiose expression of imperial Chinese power.”
About China Tours Ltd
China Tours Ltd is a UK registered operator with over ten years experience of organising holidays to China. The destination of China inspires, fascinates and enchants travellers with its rich, diverse and often mysterious landscape and culture. Our tailor made private China holidays and small group tours give you an insight into China’s thousand years’ imperial past as you tour the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Terracotta Warriors. You will also experience the tranquil and magical countryside around Guilin and Yangshuo, as well as the vibrant Shanghai, explore the natural habitat of the giant pandas and cruise the mighty Yangtze River through the spectacular Three Gorges. Visit https://www.tourchina.co.uk and let’s discover China together.
