In 246 BCE, when the young Qin Shi Huang became king of Qin, work began on a vast mausoleum at the foot of Mount Li. Over the next decades, an estimated 700,000 laborers built an underground necropolis modeled on the emperor’s palace and empire. Ancient historian Sima Qian later recorded that the tomb contained rivers of mercury flowing beneath a starry ceiling and landscapes of China itself. Though his account did not mention soldiers, modern science has confirmed traces of mercury in the soil, lending weight to his description. The main burial chamber remains sealed, but the surrounding necropolis has revealed extraordinary finds. In March 1974, farmers digging a well outside Xi’an unearthed life-sized terracotta figures. Archaeologists soon uncovered an immense army: thousands of soldiers arranged in precise formation, flanked by horses and chariots, guarding the emperor’s tomb. By 2007, three main pits were identified, holding more than 8,000 warriors, 130 chariots, and hundreds of horses, with many still buried in situ. Additional pits revealed non-military figures—officials, musicians, acrobats, and strongmen—suggesting that the afterlife court was to be as complete as the emperor’s earthly one. The warriors were crafted with assembly-line efficiency in government workshops. Heads, arms, legs, and torsos were made separately and joined together, then given individualized features with clay additions. At least ten face molds were used, yet each figure appears unique, varying in hairstyle, armor, and expression according to rank. Officers stood taller, charioteers wore helmets, archers knelt or stood with bows, and generals were depicted with commanding presence. Horses were modeled with similar care. Originally, all figures were painted in vivid colors—reds, blues, greens, purples—but the pigments flaked rapidly once exposed to air, leaving the statues largely bare today. Weapons once armed the army. Archaeologists recovered more than 40,000 bronze items—swords, spears, arrowheads, and crossbows—many still sharp after two millennia. Their preservation was aided not by chromium plating, as once thought, but by the local soil’s chemical properties. Studies of arrowheads show that production was organized in self-sufficient workshops, a system akin to modern cellular manufacturing. Inscriptions on weapons trace their making to the decades before burial, confirming their authenticity as real military equipment. Beyond soldiers, other terracotta figures expand the picture of Qin afterlife beliefs. A pit uncovered in 1999 revealed “acrobats,” muscular figures in dynamic poses, displaying anatomical realism unusual in Chinese art of the time. Some scholars suggested Hellenistic influence, pointing to naturalistic style, while others reject this view, emphasizing indigenous innovation. Recent analysis has found close resemblance between the faces of the warriors and modern inhabitants of the region, suggesting that local soldiers served as models rather than foreign prototypes. The necropolis also reflects the human cost of construction. A mass grave of workers uncovered in 2003 contained over 120 skeletons, most young men between 15 and 40. DNA studies reveal diverse origins, including both Han and minority groups, underscoring the vast reach of Qin conscription. Their fate reflects the harsh control under which the mausoleum was built. The Terracotta Army was only the beginning of a funerary tradition. Later Han dynasty tombs also contained terracotta soldiers, though in smaller, less imposing forms. Qin’s life-sized army stands as a unique experiment in monumental realism that would not reappear in China until centuries later with Buddhist sculpture. Today, the soldiers of Xi’an remain one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century, offering a window into the ambitions of China’s first emperor and the scale of his vision for eternity.

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Terracotta Warrior