Qin Terracotta Army

Qin Terracotta Army

Qin Terracotta Army in Xian, known as the eighth wonder of the world, now is a museum to display the terra-cotta warriors and horses which were made in Tang Dynasty. From its history, Qin Terracotta Army is covered by a mysterious face.

In 221 B.C., Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty established the first centralized feudal dynasty in China. After his death, he was buried at the northern foot of Lishan Hill in the east of Lintong County. The tomb has been reduced to half its size after 2,000 years of water and soil erosion, but still impressive - 76 meters high and a fundamental space of 120,000 square meters.

One unusual detail about the construction of the tomb is that the emperor had the building begin shortly after becoming king of Qin at the age of 13. This action contradicted Confucian wisdom that a son should demonstrate respect for his father by building as impressive a memorial as possible and that a man should never plan his own funeral rites.

The tomb took 38 years and 700,000 workers to reach completion. It had pearls embedded in the ceiling to represent the stars, and rivers and lakes were modeled with liquid mercury. The tomb itself has not been opened yet.

There are four main categories of figures in this museum: chariot warriors, infantrymen, cavalrymen, and horses. There are generals, middle ranking officers, lower ranking officers, ordinary soldiers, and armored warriors. The latter can be further divided according to their headgear into warriors with a square scarf, a cylindrical bun, or a flat bun. There are kneeling warriors as well.

秦始皇陵兵马俑

1974年春，陕西省临潼县的农民在打井时，无意中挖出一个陶制武士头。后经国家有组织的发掘，终于发现了使全世界都为之震惊的秦始皇陵兵马俑，西方人称它为“世界第八奇迹”。

公元前221年，秦王嬴政统一了中国，建立了中国历史上第一个中央集权的封建大帝国，并自称“始皇帝”，历史上叫他“始皇帝”。秦始皇从13岁即位时就开始营建陵园，修筑时间长达38年。工程之浩大、气魄之宏伟，开创历代封建统治者奢侈厚葬之先例。当时，秦朝总人口约2000万，而筑陵劳役达70万之多。修陵园所用的大量石料取自渭河北岸的仲山、峻峨山，全靠人力运至临潼，工程十分艰难。

秦始皇陵陵区有陵园区和从葬区两部分。陵园区可以分为四个层次，即地下宫城(地宫)、内城、外城和外城以外，主次分明，占地面积达56.25平方公里，是一座南北大于东西的长方形陵园。据《史记·秦始皇本纪》记载：地宫的墓室内有漂亮的宫殿，有数不尽的奇珍异宝，墓室顶部还有用明珠制作的太阳、月亮和星星，下部有高山、森林和江河湖海……不过，到底是不是像史书写的那样呢？现在还是个谜。

秦始皇陵的从葬区就是兵马俑坑，位于陵园东侧1500米处。秦始皇兵马俑陪葬坑，是世界最大的地下军事博物馆。俑坑布局合理，结构奇特，在深5米左右的坑底，每隔3米架起一道东西向的承重墙，兵马俑排列在墙间空档的过洞中。目前已经挖掘了一号、二号、三号3个俑坑，出土了陶制兵马俑1000多件。兵马俑个体高大，大小如同真人真马，使人感到十分真实。其中兵俑分为车兵、步兵、骑兵、弓弩兵等，有的手拿矛戈，有的张弓拉弦，有的牵马肃立，形象非常生动。兵马俑原来都是彩色的，两千年过去了，颜色消失了，可以想像，当年彩色的兵马俑一定更加神气。