There were two places I was really looking forward to seeing on this China trip, the Great Wall that more than lived up to its expectations and the Terracotta Army. Fiona, however being less than half our age wasn’t as interested in history, as fashion, catwalks, perfumes and western society. When I asked her how long it would take to see the army she said around 45 minutes, so after 3.5 hours there she started to flag and maybe regret her generosity in taking the day and a half off work to show us around. In the 'Great Wall blog' I said that The Great Wall was in my top 3 places visited and also in the that listing is the Terracotta Army, the other place being Luxor (yes all of it!) in Egypt - all perhaps fairly predictable, but each took my breath away. In China there’s been the big hoo-hah concerning Avatar vs. Confucius at the cinema’s, as mentioned in an early blog, however it’s fairly clear what the young Chinese generation want; something that their parents couldn’t get (nothing new there then..), in this case western life. Personally, and probably being western and approaching 50, I’d say they have enough historic wealth in their country to discover and who needs shopping malls, Starbucks, MacD’s and the likes. Still improving their corrupt football system and qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil wouldn’t do them any harm in years to come ;o)
We were picked up at the hotel in a beaten up old van, which at least made the concierge at the hotel smile – it didn’t say ‘Trotter’s Independent Traders’ on the side, but it wouldn’t have surprised us if it did. The traffic was bad again and the van kept cutting out, after a stop and look under the bonnet to see if the relevant parts were in order and oiled, we set off again. It didn’t stop the van shimmying, shuddering, stalling and feeling like a moving coffin at 60mph+ but we tried not to worry about silly things like that. After missing our junction and doubling the trip time, we arrived at The Tomb Mound of Qin Mausoleum, not the Terracotta Army pit site as such, but right in the heart of where the army had been, and still is being discovered.
Qin Shi Huang is the first Emperor in Chinese History who unified China
Wow – read that!
The knowledge (no not London cabbies) key to our trip..
Sorry to make you read all this – but it is interesting isn’t it?
Well skip these bits if you’re not interested…
Terracotta Acrobat pit – bet you didn’t know that did you?
Tiles from the Mausoleum - great designs
As with everything of importance in China there are steps leading up to it..
Steps to the Mausoleum mount
Everything is not as it appears..
A view of the countryside where the army were discovered
Who was buried with the emperor?
Atop the mound
And that’s the Mausoleum visit
After buying a few original artefacts for a £1 we got back in the Peckham rocket and drove to Emperor Qin's Terracotta Museum - The biggest on-site museum in China.
The Army of the Terracotta warriors was discovered in March, 1974 by peasants digging a well. The awesome ranks of life-size pottery figures, modelled from yellow clay, were made to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, despotic ruler who unified China over 2,200 years ago. Excavations yielded three pits and over 7,000 soldiers, archers, and horses. Pit 1 contains the infantry; Pit 2 is filled with cavalry and soldiers; and Pit 3 is known as the command center, with 70 high ranking officers. Each warrior, originally colored with pigment and holding a weapon, has an individually crafted expression.
The site map
Impressive life size horses on the campus
Some background
Pit 1
The multiple exhibition building
Take a deep breath!
Pit 1!
Pit 1 is a combined battle
formation of charioteers and infantrymen. At the eastern end of the pit there
are three rows of vanguards. Immediately behind the vanguards is the main body
of the battle formation. Around the outer edge, there is one row of soldiers
facing south, north and west respectively as the flanks to guard the sides and rear of the army.
Before the pit was discovered, local people in modern times
used to build tombs on the top of the pit.
Pit 1, the largest pit, is in a rectangular shape. It measures 230M long from east to west, 62M wide from north to south and 5M deep.
The warriors and horses are arrayed in a practical battle formation
Proof that I was there..
Walking down the north side
The soldiers were originally equipped with genuine bows and crossbows
The renovation of soldiers continues at the west end of the pit
We spent the most time in Pit 1 and this is the largest and most complete of the three.
Pit 2 was opened to the public in October, 1994 having been first discovered in April, 1976, it covers an area of 6,000 sq M.
Pit 2 contained the war chariots, cavalrymen and infantrymen
A total of 64 chariots were arrayed in 8 columns, originally made in wood they were completely deteriorated
Remains of roof beams
Diagram of the L shaped pit 2
Kneeling Archers
Kneeling archers and cavalrymen
Cavalryman with his saddled war-horse
Details of pottery figures
Kneeling Archer who would originally have held a crossbow
The archer is one of the few with paint still visible
Cavalryman with his saddled war-horse
Standing Archer 178cm wore colourful uniforms of short green trousers and white boots
High Ranking Officer possibly a General 197cm
Coloured kneeling archers
The last remaining farmer from Xi Yang village in LingTong County, who discovered the army whilst drilling a series of wells
Stef and Fiona entering Pit 3.
Pit 3 was opened to the public in 1989 having been first discovered in May, 1976, it is the smallest of the 3 covering 1,694 sq M.
Known as the command centre for the whole army - armoured guard north section
Restored south section
South section of armoured guards
Weapons of Pit 3, sculpture and colour painting
Command chariot by four horses
Colour painted heads
Finally we visited the exhibition hall.
Bronze Chariot No.1
Rear of Chariot No.1
Side view of Cariot No.1
Bronze Chariot No.2
Side of Bronze Chariot No.2
And that concludes our visit to the Terracotta Army.
